Welcome win for Wildcats

Wakefield won back two of the four points they were deducted on Friday for going into administration with a convincing 38-14 win over Catalan Dragons in Perpignan.

The Wildcats endured a turbulent week off the field, culminating in them going in-and-out of administration, getting new owners and ultimately being docked four points.

Two of those points instantly came back to Wakefield though as John Kear's men enjoyed their trip to the South of France with a comfortable victory.

Tries from Frankie Mariano and Kevin Penny and three goals from Josh Vievar gave the Wildcats a 14-8 half-time lead, and a further Mariano score along with a Chris Dean double stretched their advantage after the break.

With Catalan struggling to offer any threat, Wakefield ran away with the game late on thanks to further tries from Kieran Hyde and Luke George. Vievar added two goals.

The hosts' only efforts came from Sebastien Raguin and Cyril Stacul, with Scott Dureau adding two goals and a penalty.

Early advantage

Catalan looked to take early advantage of their visitors off-field turmoil, as they attacked the Wakefield line following a forced goal-line drop-out in the seventh minute.

But, following a smart offload by David Ferriol to Ian Henderson, the ball finished in the arms of Remi Casty, who had the ball stolen one on one by Mariano on the 30-metre line.

Mariano then raced unopposed to the Catalan try line and Vievar added the simple conversion.

Wakefield, boosted by having moved out of administration earlier this week following the takeover by local businessman Andrew Glover, put some neat moves together and a break by Dean down the left gave them superb field position.

The ball was sent wide to the right and into the hand of Penny. The wing-man was surrounded by Dragons defenders but found his way back into the middle of the field before spotting the gap, rounding Ferriol and racing over to score.

Vievar added the conversion and extended the lead with a penalty from midway inside the Catalan half minutes later.

Attack

Catalan scored two minutes before the break after a repeat set gave the Dragons field position to attack and Raguin powered his way over the line to the left of the posts. Dureau added the conversion.

Just before the half-time hooter, Glenn Morrison put in a high tackle on Casty 38 metres out and Dureau reduced the gap further by adding the penalty to reduce the deficit to 8-14.

Wakefield shifted the ball wide to the left from the start of the second half and new signing Dean managed to squeeze his way over and touch down before he hit the corner flag.

This time Vievar failed with the touchline conversion attempt, but he did convert his next attempt after a lofted chip through from Hyde was touched in flight by Setaimata Sa and knocked on by Stacul and was picked up by Mariano, who raced in for his second try of the game.

Just seven minutes later, Dean was in again for his second of the night to further extend the Wakefield lead.

Catalan did manage a consolation try as slick passing saw Sa send in Stacul in the corner, Dureau adding the touchline conversion.

But this was Wakefield's night and they finished on a high as first Hyde, then George raced in following sloppy handling from the hosts.