Super League: Wakefield Trinity 16-20 Catalans Dragons - Fouad Yaha hat-trick helps visitors prevail

Fouad Yaha's early tries left Wakefield facing an uphill task

Fouad Yaha's hat-trick helped play-off chasing Catalans Dragons beat relegation-threatened Wakefield.

Dragons led 16-4 at the interval after Yaha's first-half treble, his two early tries helping put the visitors 12-0 up, and he struck again after Jamie Shaul went over for his first Trinity try.

Wakefield hit back in the second half with a try from Matty Ashurst.

But Arthur Mourgue's two penalties gave Dragons breathing space, before Lewis Murphy's try reduced the lead again.

The win cemented Dragons' fourth place in the Super League table with a game in hand.

Defeat was a blow for Wakefield after their recent morale-boosting victory over rivals Castleford which lifted them off the bottom, and they remain a place and two points above Toulouse.

Yaha's first try came in only the second minute, after a fumble by Shaul, and the French winger showed a safe pair of hands to gather the ball and go over for his second try six minutes later.

It was one-way traffic until Shaul went down the short side and held off a couple of challenges to cross for a well-worked try.

However, Yaha then completed his hat-trick by pouncing on Josh Drinkwater's smart kick and going over in the left corner.

Catalans had Tiaki Chan sin-binned for a dangerous tackle on Murphy just after the half-hour mark, but they had a measure of control before a second-half Trinity rally.

Jacob Miller sent Ashurst through a gap for a try which reduced the deficit to eight points and gave the hosts real hope.

But Mourgue's kicking was decisive, his two conversions and subsequent penalties enabling Dragons to scrape the win.

There was a tense finish, though, after Murphy went over with a couple of minutes remaining.

Wakefield head coach Willie Poching told BBC Radio Leeds:

"The opening stages of the game hurt us - our attitude to apply any pressure on their back five and to fire any shots defensively or offensively. We had no sting about us.

"When you're the passive ones, you're usually on the back foot, which is what happened today.

"The most disappointing thing for me is the lack of respect we showed for the opposition. We had an undeserved level of complacency about us.

"Before we knew it we were 12-0 down and it took a tackle on Lewis Murphy, when he was put on his head, for us to fire up and say 'here we go now'. It shouldn't have to take that.

"The way we weren't applying ourselves in that first half wasn't good enough, and I challenged them to go out in the second half and leave everything out there.

"I was happy with the response and how we applied ourselves in the second half, but we needed that from the start."

Catalans head coach Steve McNamara:

"Fouad's grandma, who raised him, passed away during the week. He didn't train with us all week but managed to get across for the game, so to start the game as he did is a credit to him.

"The same for Cesar Rouge, whose grandad passed away and he was in all sorts of trouble during the week.

"I think it's one of the best wins in the history of Catalans Dragons. We had 13 starting players missing and we only finalised the 17 yesterday after our travel."

Wakefield: Shaul; Kershaw, Hall, Gaskell, Murphy; Lino. Miller, Batchelor, Tanginoa, Ashurst, Arona, Hood, Whitbread.

Interchanges: Crowther, Bowden, Fifita, Battye.

Catalans: Mourgue; Davies, Romano, Langi, Yaha; May, Drinkwater, Da Costa, Julien, Le Cam, Seguier, McIlorum, Cozza.

Interchanges: Rouge, Franco, Kasiano, Chan.

Sin-bin: Chan (33)

Referee: Tom Grant.

• This is only the beginning! Celebrate the Lionesses' Euro 2022 victory

• 'You cannot just walk away, they'll kill you': Police investigate an extremely violent gang in Devon's drug economy