Catalans captain Ben Garcia suffers broken arm

Correspondent
Catalans have confirmed that captain Ben Garcia broke his forearm in Saturday’s 32-30 win over Hull KR.

The France international has started all but one of his side’s 16 league and cup matches this season but will now be sidelined for at least six weeks as he prepares to undergo surgery.

A Catalans spokesperson said: “He’ll see a specialist tomorrow and will undergo surgery to repair the injury.

“He will be unavailable for a minimum of six weeks.”

Catalans coach Steve McNamara was far from impressed with his side’s performance despite them setting a club-record 10 Betfred Super League wins in a row on Saturday.

The Dragons came back from the dead for the third week in a row with a second-half blitz that blew away Hull KR to secure a 32-30 victory after trailing 26-12 at the break.

McNamara said: “Of course I’m pleased that we won but I’m really unhappy with the performance.

“In the last three games, where we’ve had to come back, we have had to be very disciplined but it’s quite clear that we are not at the top of our game.

“We seem to have created a bit of a habit that we need to get out of very quickly.

“We just couldn’t cope with Jordan Abdull’s kicking game, we didn’t field some balls on the full that we should have and they scored the points and built up a strong lead.

“I don’t think there was anything wrong structurally we just couldn’t cope with Jordan’s kicks.

“There’s going to be a lot of frustration among the players and we need to work with that before our next performance.”

Meanwhile, McNamara has urged NRL clubs to put their self-interest to one side and get behind the World Cup.

The Kangaroos and Kiwis released a joint statement on Thursday confirming their withdrawal from this year’s World Cup in England, citing that it is “too unsafe to travel” due to the coronavirus pandemic.

World Cup organisers announced that the tournament would go ahead as planned less than two weeks ago, but the recent news from the southern hemisphere has placed the event in serious doubt.

McNamara, who worked as an assistant at Sydney Roosters and New Zealand Warriors, has little sympathy for the stance taken by the NRL clubs.

“They’re talking from 12,000 miles away,” he said. “I think they’ve got their own interests at heart and I understand that to some extent but we’re talking about the World Cup, the pinnacle of our sport.

“I’ve been involved as an assistant coach and as a head coach, both in the southern hemisphere and the northern hemisphere, and ultimately, it’s what players play for.

“There’s all the tribalism that goes with being a club player but there is nothing quite like that feeling of playing for your country in a World Cup.

“You hear a lot of ‘we’re all in this together’ and we always look after each other but I don’t think with some of this it’s the case.

“I think some people are trying to look after their own backyard. We’ll be affected more than any other club team in the world with the amount of players we’ll have out but we want the World Cup to go ahead.”

Super League Ben Garcia