Leeds and Wigan youngsters travel to face Catalan

Leeds and Wigan will send academy teams over to France for games against Catalan’s Under 20s side in January.

The two week tour will see the Dragons side face the Under 19s sides from both Leeds and Wigan, while the Warriors and Rhinos sides will also go up against each other.

Catalan’s reserve team headcoach Stephen Deakin, who has helped organize the tour with the assistance of funding by all three clubs and the RFL, believes that the games will give a good indication of how much progression has been done by the French club since its acceptance to the super League fold in 2006.

He said: “In the last 3 seasons 9 players have come through the system and made their debut for the Super league side. This will be a good indicator of how far we have come as a club by being able to gauge ourselves against two of the best clubs in Super League in terms of player development.”

Catalan will face Wigan on Wednesday January 8 and Leeds on Wednesday January 15, with the Rhinos and Warriors match pencilled in for the weekend of January 11/12.