LACHLAN Fitzgibbon insists Warrington Wolves will have learned plenty from their Round One defeat as they bid to move on quickly.

The second rower, who was signed from Newcastle Knights during the off-season, made his Super League debut as The Wire were beaten 16-10 by Catalans Dragons in Perpignan despite their opponents being reduced to 12 men just after half time.

Fitzgibbon admits Michael McIlorum’s red card meant his side lapsed away from a gameplan that appeared to be working well – they were trailing 6-4 at the time after Arron Lindop’s opener was cancelled out on the stroke of half time by Jordan Abdull, but a try and three further goals from Arthur Mourgue allowed the Dragons to pull away.

“It was a tough result but we’ll take plenty of lessons from that game for next week,” he told the Guardian post-match.

“Personally, I found it enjoyable – they play a tough brand of footy and they came to play.

“In the first half, we had the upper hand but we had the unlucky bounce with the kick try leading into half time.

“I still felt at half time that we were going to get on top of them but after the red card, we went away from our footy.

“It happens at times – when a team goes down to 12, you feel like there’s a lot more space and that you have to score on every play, and I think that was our downfall.

“We went away from our plan and how we wanted to play.

“Credit to them – they stuck it to us and came out with the result.”

Fitzgibbon lined up on the left edge of Sam Burgess’ team alongside scrum-half Josh Drinkwater, returning centre Toby King and winger Matty Ashton and was one of the team’s more impressive performers on the night.

And he is looking forward to seeing how the combination between the four of them develops throughout the year as they now turn their attention to their first competitive home fixture of the season as Hull FC visit The Halliwell Jones Stadium in Round Two.

“We’ve got a strong side across the park but playing outside of Drinky and inside of Kingy and Tash is a good edge,” he said.

“I’m looking forward to building those combinations throughout the year. It’s only our first hit-out but in the first half especially, I thought we went alright.

“There’s plenty to work on and we’ll be better next week for sure.

“I’m sure the place will be chocker – the fans were immense tonight and at the Leigh home game.

“It’s my first official home game and I really can’t wait.”