Catalans 10 Warrington 36, Daryl Powell reaction

Coming into the game as heavy underdogs, The Wire stunned the high-flying French side at St James’ Park to win 36-10 in what was arguably their best and most significant result of the campaign to date.

It keeps the hopes of a play-off place alive and Powell is now keen to make sure this platform is now built upon.

The Wire players thanks the travelling supporters at full time. Picture by SWPix.com

“I just thought there was a lot of honesty out there today,” he said.

“The team out there really cared about what the end result was and what the game looked like so I was really pleased.

“I thought there were lots of little things in our defensive effort that were really pleasing – things we’ve been inconsistent with.

“I thought George (Williams) and Stef (Ratchford) played with real confidence and the team played off the back of that – Daz Clark played huge minutes.

“Our start pack was really good and our bench backed that up. I was just really pleased with the whole thing to be honest.

“We’ve been in a real tough situation and people talk about things like relegation, which I think is crazy but we are where we are.

“I’ve been constantly looking up and that’s what we have to do.

“That gives us something to build on but we can’t fall in love with ourselves. We’ve got a couple of months of really tough battles and we’ve got to show what we can do in that period.

“We just have to go on a run and if you look at the fixtures, they’re all tough games but it’s doable. We just have to believe we can do it.

Daryl Powell is all smiles post-match. Picture by SWPix.com

“The honesty that was out there today shows the players care and the fans were behind them – that starts to mean something when you win a couple of games on the spin and then you’ve got an opportunity.

“In the future with what we’ve done recruitment wise, I think we’re going to have a special team.

“We’re just in the process of putting all that together and whilst it’s been tough at times, there’s rationale behind everything.

“That team’s got a chance. I just need to make sure I get the team selection right.”

Warrington had to do things the hard way as they lost Gareth Widdop to a dislocated shoulder suffered in opening the scoring.

> Read a full injury update on Gareth Widdop here

Gareth Widdop leaves the field. Picture by SWPix.com

That meant a reshuffle, with Riley Dean coming in to partner George Williams in the halves and Stefan Ratchford filling in for Widdop at full-back.

What followed was an excellent response to falling 6-4 down, with Jake Wardle, debutant Matty Nicholson and Ratchford putting Wire into a 24-6 half-time lead.

Josh Thewlis and Williams then scored after the break to ensure a dominant and impressive victory.

“We haven’t dealt with adversity too well at times this year, but we did that,” Powell said.

“Losing Gaz as early as we did – that was a tough finish from him with a dislocated shoulder – we ended up having a really young edge.

“Riley Dean, for example – I’ve been wanting to give him some more opportunities and he’s certainly got an opportunity now to grab hold of the game with George and form a really solid combination.

“Early on, they scored that barge-over try where Riley was a little bit slow to get himself organised but after that, he dealt with things really well.”

Nicholson won the official man of the match prize for his performance on debut after signing from Wigan Warriors last month.

Starting in the second row, the 18-year-old scored a try and was denied a second by the video referee after being held up over the line.

Matty Nicholson touches down. Picture by SWPix.com

Powell said he “could not speak highly enough” of Nicholson and also praised the impact of another three players who have come into the side mid-season.

Wardle scored his first try for the club while props James Harrison, who started for the first time in the absence of Mike Cooper, and Thomas Mikaele were once again impressive.

“He scored two tries on his debut for Wigan and he’s pretty close to scoring two there – if his shoulder was meant to move in another direction he would have got another,” Powell said of Nicholson.

“I can’t speak highly enough of him. You know exactly why Wigan were saying what they said about him because he’s a genuine Super League player.

“James Harrison too is a genuine Super League player and I think we saw that massively today.

“He’s not really played Super League before so for him to come in and do what he’s done in the last three games after nine months out with an ACL is phenomenal. He just looks at home.

“I’ve been trying to sign him for a while and he’s a really good player in the making. He's going to be outstanding in the future.

“You see with Thomas, he looks pretty special.

“He’s getting up to speed, he’s getting fitter and he’s got a real good voice around the place.

“Jake was outstanding as well – right from the off he was electric down the left side and was a threat throughout.

"They’ve added to us for sure and that’s what we’ve wanted.”

Jake Wardle is congratulated after his first-half try. Picture by SWPix.com