CATALANS Dragons head coach Steve McNamara highlighted two “game-changing moments” that helped turn yesterday’s win over Warrington Wolves his side’s way.

The victory was an ultimately comfortable one for Les Dracs, who cut loose in the final period to inflict more misery on The Wire with a 40-8 victory.

However, things may have been different were it not for two critical interventions from Dragons full-back Sam Tomkins.

With the game scoreless, Stefan Ratchford sent Matty Ashton on a long-range break into the Catalans half, but the England captain did enough to hold him up and eventually shut the play down.

He did the same after half-time when Connor Wrench broke down the sideline, with the score standing at 8-6 to the hosts at that point.

“I thought there were two really good bits of play from Sam Tomkins in back-field when he rescued the two breakaways from Warrington,” McNamara said.

“Those were game-changing moments for both teams.

“They are a fast team, but he bought us some time to get back and cover.”

The game was in the balance for long periods until Warrington were eventually worn down and blown away by a relentless Catalans side.

McNamara says he was pleased that his side did not chase the game too early in the second half and had faith the points would come.

“It’s a really good way for us to win – not quite being at our best, being frustrated and having to adjust,” he said.

“The Mitchell Pearce try and the Julian Bousquet try were big plays for us. Defensively, we were pleased to only concede one try again.

“We were frustrated with ourselves at half time – we weren’t connected.

“There was lots of effort but it was going off in different directions. I could feel and see the frustration.

“In the second half, we didn’t want to chase the points early, we needed to build our performance and I thought we did that superbly well, with a grandstand finish from us.”