Jonny Lomax the hero as St Helens claim first victory over Catalans Dragons in Perpignan since 2018; Sky Sports will again show every game of the Super League live this season – including two matches in each round exclusively live
Last Updated: 29/03/25 8:50pm
Jonny Lomax kicked St Helens to a dramatic victory at Catalans Dragons
St Helens fired up their Betfred Super League campaign with a rare victory over Catalans Dragons in Perpignan as they showed no mercy to former favourite Tommy Makinson in his first game against the English side.
Both teams battled against a brutal mountain wind hampering kicking opportunities but it was the visitors who coped best with the ferocious conditions as they led narrowly at half-time before going on to win the game 14-13 thanks to Jonny Lomax.
Saints’ first league win at Stade Gilbert Brutus since 2018 could be the catalyst for coach Paul Wellens as his side have been hit-and-miss so far this term.
Sam Tomkins stepped up to the Dragons’ captaincy after the late unavailability of Ben Garcia through illness. He was replaced in the squad by Bayley Sironen whose brother Paul missed out on selection for Saints as his child was being born.
An early blow for the visitors came in the second tackle when promising youngster Harry Robertson had to leave the field for a head injury assessment but they were first to score when stand-off Tristan Sailor broke the defence for a 30-metre dash over on the right for the opening try, his seventh of the season.
He quickly scored his second when full-back Jack Welsby rampaged up the pitch, passed onto Alex Walmsley and allowed Sailor his second strike near the posts.
But Makinson was always going to be in the headlines and in the 16th minute he chipped over his old team-mates and his good friend Tomkins collected the ball to get Catalans’ scoring going.
And he was next to cross the line but it took 20 minutes of thrilling stalemate before he could strike five minutes from the interval with a scrambled rollover which needed video referee approval, but he could not convert to leave it 12-10.
St Helens had the strong wind behind them in the second half and thought they had scored in the opening minute when Jonny Lomax’s kick was carried on the breeze but Sailor was judged to be offside by the video referee before he collected and grounded.
Sam Tomkins was unable to inspire Catalans to victory despite scoring two tries and 12 points overall
Both Lomax and Luke Keary struggled with the aerial battle in the wind then two lengthy captain’s challenges, with referee Jack Smith struggling throughout the game with his technical communication, punctuated the second half but Tomkins levelled the scores with a 62nd-minute penalty when Saints were caught offside in front of their posts.
Then in a decisive moment a scruffy kick forward from Remis Smith landed into the arms of Tevita Pangai Junior, who slipped to Keary before he found Sironen to stride over the line unhindered, with video referee Liam Rush taking another lengthy look before deciding TPJ had knocked on.
Lomax took the opportunity to win the game with seven minutes remaining with a wind-assisted drop goal but a short kick-off from Makinson was collected by the Dragons and Keary equalised with his own one-pointer.
But it was Lomax who had the ice in his veins to finish the job with his second field goal a minute from the end for an incredible Saints win.
‘We had to do something about record at Catalans’
St Helens head coach Paul Wellens: “It’s almost impossible to prepare for those windy conditions, you can’t replicate 60mph winds in training… you just have to be alert to things.
“You saw how many last plays bounced and it became a competition for the ball, some went our way and some went theirs. For Jonny to land two drop goals in those conditions is outstanding.
“We spoke to the team in the week about being on the wrong side of results here too often and we had to do something about it.
“I thought the start of the game was excellent from us but all in all considering the conditions it was a committed performance from both teams and one of those game that gets settled by fine margins and we managed to come up with the big play at the end which was obviously the deciding factor.
“It’s great that we won a tight game against top opposition and we’re going to need to do that again moving forward. There’s a lot we can take from this in terms of improvements so we will look to find them for next week.”
‘The best we’ve played this season’
Catalans Dragons coach Steve McNamara: “I thought it was a great contest, and both teams played extremely well in the conditions, it’s very difficult for people to understand how tough that was to play.
“Both teams had a game plan then looked at the weather and scrapped it, but having said that, I thought we played really well in attack for the majority of the game and defended well.
“Credit to both teams it was extreme conditions and the quality of both teams shone out it was a high quality game, and we might have lost but I think it’s the best we played this season.
“I don’t think we’ve had a game this season in decent weather, and it’s tested us again tonight but credit to Saints, Jack Welsby was outstanding for those couple of try plays and Lomax’s kicking the drop goals was the difference.”
Super League Round Six Fixtures (all live on Sky Sports)
Sunday March 30
- 3pm: Huddersfield Giants vs Hull Kingston Rovers
- 3pm: Wigan Warriors vs Salford Red Devils
Sky Sports will again show every game of the Super League live this season – including two matches in each round exclusively live, with the remaining four matches each week shown on Sky Sports+ via the red button.
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