Steve McNamara pleased with Catalans improvement after win over Castleford

Catalans coach Steve McNamara was pleased with the way his side responded to last week’s defeat against St Helens with a good win over Castleford.

The Dragons lost 34-6 against St Helens in the Super League restart last week but responded to it with a 40-14 victory over Castleford at Headingley on Saturday.

McNamara said: “We were 14-0 down when Jesse Sene-Lefao drops ball and at 20-0 it could have been a different game.

“We looked at aspects of our game from last week and, right from the start, we were together as a team for the minute’s silence and the 13 seconds for Black Lives Matter.

“We showed our respects and the team showed how together they are on that.

“There were major questions asked of us last week, more by ourselves. We were disappointed by that, and we were hurt by that, but it wasn’t the end of the world. We learned from it and we will go again next week.”

Israel Folau put in a man of the match performance for Catalans in their win over Castleford, and McNamara was impressed with the centre.

McNamara added: “I hope he gets better and he’s determined to. He’s got the potential to improve.

“I think there is a lot more to come, he works really hard.

“He was great today but his wife is due to give birth any time now and he nearly didn’t get on the plane. Thankfully he did.”

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