Steve McNamara provides Catalans injury update on key men

Catalans coach Steve McNamara provided an update on his injured players following their impressive 18-10 win at Wigan on Thursday night.

The Dragons picked up their first win at the DW Stadium since 2011. The win was even more impressive because they had to do it without key players such as Sam Tomkins, Siosiua Taukeiaho, Mitchell Pearce and Matt Whitley.

McNamara hailed his young French players after the game as he provided a positive injury update, saying they will have a couple of bodies back within the next week or two.

“Sam’s knee injury, we knew it would react after one game which it did do,” McNamara told Love Rugby League.

“He won’t be far off now, next week or the week after. He’ll recover from that and we’ll get him back on the field pretty soon.

“Mitchell Pearce has got a calf injury and Siosiua is the same. He picked up a calf injury this week so that’s disappointing.

“Alrix Da Costa is close to getting back and Matt Whitley is only a couple of weeks away.

“Fouad Yaha is a long-term injury for us so we’re dealing with a few there.

“Tonight was not about those that didn’t play, it was about those that did play. Ugo Tison, the young half-back or hooker, had to come on and play centre because we lot Matthieu Laguerre after 10 minutes and has never played that position before.

“We had to move the chess pieces around a bit to find a way to play. We did it pretty well tonight.”

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Steve McNamara hails Manu Ma’u after powerful performance

Former Tonga international Manu Ma’u scored two tries on his return to McNamara’s side after returning from New Zealand following the passing of his father.

“Manu is class,” McNamara said. “He had to overcome the death of his father a couple of weeks back. He had to fly home.

“We took him out of the game last week against Hull FC just to look after him physically and mentally at that stage.

“He has been class for us, both as a man and a player. He scored two good tries tonight on a night when it was difficult to score points.”

McNamara has been impressed with the club’s new signings in the first four rounds, but it was Samoa international Tyrone May who stood-out for him against Wigan.

McNamara added: “Adam Keighran has been really good for us a well. Romain Navarrete, who didn’t play tonight, has been in sensational form for us.

“Siosiua has only played once for us but was pretty special last week against Hull FC. Those have been quality additions to the group.

“But I thought Tyrone May was outstanding for us tonight. He had a makeshift number seven next to him today in Adam Keighran. Tyrone has come back from a significant injury at the World Cup and controlled that game really well for us tonight.”

Catalans will aim to maintain their 100 per cent winning record when they host Hull KR next Saturday.

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