AFTER what he described as a “tough and fierce” game, Catalans Dragons head coach Steve McNamara insists his counterpart Sam Burgess can feel happy with parts of his beaten Warrington Wolves side’s display.

However, he was delighted with how his side coped with the pressure applied by Michael McIlorum’s sending-off to emerge as 16-10 victors.

The hooker’s red card, which was shown for a shoulder charge to the head of Wire prop Joe Philbin during the second half’s first carry, came with the Dragons 6-4 up but they were able to kick into another gear and extend that lead to 14-4, with Arthur Mourgue scoring all eight points thanks to a try and two goals.

Matt Dufty’s try brought The Wire back to within four points inside the final quarter, but another Mourgue penalty allowed Les Dracs to keep their visitors at arm’s length and seal victory.

“It was such a tough game and such a fierce game with some brutal contacts,” McNamara said.

“Both coaches I think will be relatively happy with their teams. We get the win and I thought we deserved the win, but that was a hard, hard game for Round One.

“I’m just so pleased we got through it – we didn’t really get put under any pressure in the trial game so we weren’t sure how we would react when that happened.

“We were put under a lot of pressure a lot of times but managed to soak that up and come out on the other side, so it’s a big credit to the players for that.

“At the start of a season, that’s a really good sign – the ability to soak up pressure and come back – so we’ll be a whole lot better for that.

“Both sides will pick parts and elements out of that game that they will be happy about and I’m just glad we got the two points.”