Wakefiel Trinity coach admits it’s back to the drawing board - again - after defeat to Catalans Dragons

The 40-8 defeat at the hands of Catalans Dragons widened the gap between the top and bottom ends of the table, a fact also not lost on Chester.

“Since lockdown, we seem to have struggled to cope with the new rule changes and there is obviously a gap now growing between the top teams who have handled the situation and ones like ourselves who haven’t,” he said. “I thought we were really good for 33 minutes, we were in control at the start of the game and we were really challenging their middles.

“They were there for the taking in the first half but we just came up with some dumb plays. They then went back to back on us, and they grew some legs, and the rest of the game was a dominant display from Catalans. Their bench was the difference tonight, Kasiano caused us lots of trouble.

“We’re struggling to find a way out of this form that we’re in and there is so much inconsistency, it’s making life difficult. We looked like we’d taken a step forward last week against Wigan but you can’t afford to allow a hundred metre set at the start of the second half. We need a lot more desire to stop those kind of things happening.

“We’ve struggled with Catalans’ physicality all year and we struggled again tonight. We make a couple of errors and our heads seem to drop.

“It’s back to the drawing board. I don’t think we had any injury worries tonight and we’ve got some guys coming back, with Fifita and Navarette. Funnily enough we always go all right against St Helens, it’s the big, physical sides that we struggle with.

“It’s tough going at the minute. We’ve got a group of players who are trying but, since lockdown, there has been a widening gap between the top five or six teams and those at the bottom.”

He added: “We haven’t adjusted well to the new rules and we’ve struggled. We’re not as mobile as we need to be and that puts a bit emphasis on who we will recruit at the end of the season.”

As for Catalans, they have been slow starters from a series of stoppages during this fractured season, and an exhausting series of away fixtures seemed to have drained the Dragons but, with several home fixtures on their immediate horizon, the only way is up for Super League’s French connection.

Coach Steve McNamara said: “I thought it was a really good quality first half, Wakefield played really well and we weren’t that far off. It was an even contest but the way we finished the first half and the way we started the second is very pleasing.

“We’ve found some rhythm and heartbeat which we’ve struggled with since the break in the season and our layoff with Covid.

“We defended really well in the first half, we had to, and we built our game on the back of that.

“It was pleasing to see our attacking rhythm return, we broke more tackles, none moreso than Sam Kasiano.

“We’ve all been off the mark in the past few weeks since lockdown but you’ve got to work hard and find that form. I’m not saying we have completed that today but we’ve gone a long way towards it.

“We’ve got a really clean bill of health which is a good sign for us. We rested Fouad Yaha and Joel Tomkins today and we brought in others who performed really well. It seemed to freshen us up.

“It’s nice to be at home for a change and not be thinking about going to an airport biut that means nothing unless you are prepared to work hard and I thought we did that today.

“Home or away we know what we need to do. We’re pleased to be back at home and put in a good performance for all of our supporters.”