Catalans fearing double injury blow following defeat

Catalans head coach Steve McNamara confirmed that both Matt Whitley and Julian Bousquet suffered knee injuries in the defeat to Salford.

The Dragons fell to a 32-6 defeat to Salford at the AJ Bell Stadium, but remain fourth in the Super League table.

Back-rower Matt Whitley left the field early in the clash, replaced by Joe Chan, who went on to open the scoring.

France international prop forward Julian Bousquet then limped from the field in the second half.

Following the loss, McNamara confirmed both starting players suffered knee injuries.

“Two [both] knee injuries,” he said.

“Matt Whitley we lost after eight minutes and Julian Bousquet. I don’t want to delve too much but they don’t look great, to be honest.

“It’s part of the game. Going into the game, both teams were down on numbers; we were as well. But it’s reality. They [Salford] dealt with it a lot better than we did today.”

2022 the year of injuries?

Arthur Mourgue, Tom Davies, Mike McMeeken, Benjamin Garcia and Jordan Dezaria all missed the game for Catalans through injury.

Salford were without 12 first team players for the Round 19 clash due for the same reason. Those on the list include Morgan Escare, Dan Sarginson and Shane Wright.

Asked if he had seen a season like this before with injuries, McNamara replied: “I think certain years you might say ‘I’ve never seen this before in the past’ and reflect on that.

“But I think right now, the decimation of the number of squads is really high. There’s a couple of healthy squads still, but I think most coaches at the minute have got slight concerns about the numbers of players they’ve got available.

“The seriousness of some of the injuries this season has been very high.”

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