Saints Aim To Bounceback In Catalan

It will be the second time Justin Holbrook’s side have played in Perpignan this year, and the fourth game between the two teams in 2018.

Saints have won both league fixtures but will take on Catalans just a couple of weeks after they collected the Challenge Cup.

“Catalans have probably finished their celebrations by now and we are going to play them at their first game at home since they won the Cup,” Saints Head Coach Justin Holbrook said. “They will want to show the home fans how good they have been playing and therefore it is up to us to raise our standards to be ready for that.

“We saw just how well they could play in the semi final and they then backed that up in the final too. When they get it right they are a dangerous side. We have to play better and combat that.”

He continued: “Last Friday was really disappointing but we have to get ready to go again this Saturday.

“We know we have to take our chances and execute better. I don’t think we did ourselves any favours in that regard. Louie’s try was unlucky not to be awarded I thought and then Benny could have hit Louie or Tommy Makinson in the first half.

“If you take them you could be leading well and it’s a different game, but we didn’t.

“You never create a lot of chances against Wigan. We created some but didn’t convert and they did. We just have to play better.”

Saints are set to be without Ryan Morgan in France after he suffered a head knock against Wigan whilst Theo Fages will be back after missing out on the 17 last week.

“When we last played at Wigan we ran with four forwards on the bench; Theo played as Benny was out.” Justin continued. “That was the thinking this time around but we lost Ryan Morgan to a head knock, so that unfortunately that threw everything out of sync. Will look at the options for this week.

“Dom Peyroux will see a specialist this week on his arm. If that goes well then he will hopefully be available before the semi final which is good as he has been a big loss for us.”