Quins thrash Catalans in friendly

[screeny]

whether a trial or not piss poor effort from catalan dragons, harlequins will look for more consistant play, when they are hot they can beat any one in superleague, there combinations of mclinden & dorn, along with it manly conection of solo, heckenburg, randall, bradley qulilana along with emerging england talent paul sykes, they could be a dark house this year, & tyrone smith a real talent.
as for catalan for starters get a coach, the uncertainy of who will coach can not help the mindset particlarly of the french players, the current 5 eight frassinyous is sh*t, this politics with gresque is a joke, with a forward pack that contains chan, beattie, gussiet, fakir, hindmarsh, mounis & bertezene should hold there own are they there for a holiday, the backline is a big problem for catalan like the test team.
sure these frechmen can play on the 2 or three big matches out of there skin for there country, but can they play consistant 30 games of high quality football.
i say no just like the warriors in the first five years these guys will take a while to adjust, i am not expecting a top 6 finish out of catalan for them to be right up there the likes of gresque & ferriol need to play for them.

Mate, relax! Such is the capricious nature of RL's gameplay that dropping your guard for only a few moments can result in a heap of points conceded.

How many matches have you watched where the score does not fairly reflect the close nature of the contest?

I didn't see the match so can't comment, but even if it was 80-0 I wouldn't have been unduly concerned. If they're crushed by Wigan I still won't be concerned. They've done everything sensibly so far and they're in it for the long run. And, they have quality players. Top six IMO.

 

[HelperMonkey]

The French were without Jones in the trial, so it was always expected they would struggle in the match against London.

 

[brendothejet]

yeah i think that first match against wigan will be a cracker. They should have a pretty big crowd in that funny little stadium of theirs (i love the raised stand) and should be good fun.

Go the Catalans!

 

[jed]

The French were without Jones in the trial, so it was always expected they would struggle in the match against London.

I hope that's not their strategy for this year. Relying on one player to get you out of trouble is only going to end in heart-ache.

 

[Copa]

classy

http://sport.guardian.co.uk/rugbyleague/story/0,,1692858,00.html

More worrying still was Rea's experience when he visited the Stade Aimé Giral, the home of Perpignan's rugby union team where the Dragons will play most of their games this season while their own Stade Gilbert Brutus is renovated. "When they heard I was a league bloke, they pretty much kicked me out of the ground," Rea chuckled. "There still seems to be a lot of hate from union to league around here and that's not going to make their life easy."

 

[HelperMonkey]

I hope that's not their strategy for this year. Relying on one player to get you out of trouble is only going to end in heart-ache.

I'm sure it isn't, most likely why they decided in their trial to play without him, try and build up some confidence in their other options, but its hard to replace a talent like Jones in any team... if his Tri-Nations form is anything to go by he will be one of the standout players in Super League in 06.

 

[elBandido]

You can count the crowd when you watch it for free here www.planete13.tv
Click on videotheque on the left hand side select catsquins

There are some AS Carcassonne games as well

 

[AlbertRosenfeld]

Having just seen the video of the match, at www.planete13.tv it was clear to me that Les Catalans are well behind Harlequins in their preparation for the Super League. During much of the first half Quins were a well drilled team, with good support play in attack. Former Raiders star Mark McLinden was brilliant in attack in the first half. The Quins backline passing was immaculate at times especially from the marvellous five eighth (whom the Sydney Roosters released a year ago), Luke Dorn. In my opinion Les Catalans forwards did well in defence most of the time, but were mostly a rabble in attack. Only Julian Rinaldi, Jamal Fakir and Alex Chan made strong inroads into the Quins defence.

It is clear that Rinaldi must now be made the number six for the Dragons. He was a constant thorn in the side of the opposing team, and he defended very well, including in cover. Leaving aside Laurent Frayssinous's errors (which included serving a perfect lofted pass to Matt Gafa right on the Quin's line, which gave the Quins' new boy an open 100 metre run to the Dragons line) M. Frayssinous just cannot compete with M. Rinaldi as either playmaker or defender. When Stacey is finally allowed to take up the half back slot, Frayssinous must go and Rinaldi must stay.

The outside backs showed big flaws in their defence, especially John Wilson and Bruno Verges. I would expect that when he is fit, Mark Hughes will go straight in at the expense of Wilson, and Zitter will be preferred to Verges.

The forwards still have much improvement to show in their play, but the talent is certainly there. It is decisions about the backline that need to be attended to with urgency by the coaching staff.

 

[Perth Tiger]

winnyasonwhether a trial or not piss poor effort from catalan dragons, harlequins will look for more consistant play, when they are hot they can beat any one in superleague, there combinations of mclinden & dorn, along with it manly conection of solo, heckenburg, randall, bradley qulilana along with emerging england talent paul sykes, they could be a dark house this year, & tyrone smith a real talent.
as for catalan for starters get a coach, the uncertainy of who will coach can not help the mindset particlarly of the french players, the current 5 eight frassinyous is sh*t, this politics with gresque is a joke, with a forward pack that contains chan, beattie, gussiet, fakir, hindmarsh, mounis & bertezene should hold there own are they there for a holiday, the backline is a big problem for catalan like the test team.
sure these frechmen can play on the 2 or three big matches out of there skin for there country, but can they play consistant 30 games of high quality football.
i say no just like the warriors in the first five years these guys will take a while to adjust, i am not expecting a top 6 finish out of catalan for them to be right up there the likes of gresque & ferriol need to play for them.

They did get whipped but the Tigers also got flooged by Manly last year in a trail and look what happened after.

It will take a while for the combinations to form since most of the players wouldn't have play much together as they are basically a brand new team

 

[Copa]

some more photographs:
http://www.catalansdragons.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=14

 

[screeny]

I like Frayssinous but the guy just does not seem SL standard in anything but place kicking. He's slow and predictable in attack and has powderpuff defence. He reads the game well though and I am surprised he has a contract at this level.

Jones and Rinaldi=SL's best HB combination, although Rinaldi operates better at first receiver. If those two and the coaching staff can construct a good understanding then the Catalans have a very effective creative department.

I thought Wilson was 'famous' for his defence? Hope he's not your standard Aussie-on-holiday signing. Bruno Verges is nothing special either.