{"id":451246,"date":"2026-03-01T02:05:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T02:05:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/451246\/"},"modified":"2026-03-01T02:05:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T02:05:10","slug":"catalans-dragons-players-gave-up-as-joel-tomkins-tears-into-side-after-defeat-to-st-helens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/451246\/","title":{"rendered":"Catalans Dragons players \u2018gave up\u2019 as Joel Tomkins tears into side after defeat to St Helens"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Catalans Dragons head coach Joel Tomkins has accused some of his players of giving up in the loss to St Helens with the Englishman pulling no punches after their 36-4 loss<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The overwhelming majority of those St Helens points, 30 of them, came in the final 30 minutes of the game with Tomkins pointing to Lewis Dodd\u2019s \u2018No Try\u2019 call as a turning point.<\/p>\n

Dodd tried to ground the ball but fell just short and knocked on in the process, failing to score and make it 6-6. Just two minutes later and Jacob Host crashed over to make it 12-0, with Catalans falling away after that point.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought that was a big turning point there,\u201d Tomkins said post-match on Sky Sports when asked about the Lewis Dodd \u2018No Try\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought we did some good things for the first 50 minutes, to be honest, I was pretty proud of the boys. A lot of things went against us that first half, but they hung in there, toughed it out, and then at half-time we were confident we could come out and attack the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Dodd scores that try, who knows what would have happened, but that last 30 minutes isn\u2019t acceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Where Hull KR rank among Super League\u2019s greats, referee controversy and Las Vegas predictions \u2013 Click here to watch the latest episode of the Serious About Rugby League Show<\/a><\/p>\n

Catalans Dragons boss \u2018really annoyed\u2019 at performance<\/p>\n

Expanding on why that final half-hour wasn\u2019t acceptable, Tomkins claimed that members of his side \u2018gave up\u2019 after captain Benjamin Garcia went off with an injury.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cThere were some really soft tries, and I think once Ben Garcia left the field, a couple of boys gave up there, so we\u2019ve got to address that and be much better, or it\u2019s going to be a long few weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just thought that last 30 minutes were really soft, a couple of barge over tries, and our movement in defence. Ben Garcia does a lot for us in the middle, and I was really disappointed with the reaction when he had to come off injured.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tomkins continued: \u201cI\u2019m really annoyed, really, at the last 30 minutes there. I thought we probably played tough for 50 minutes and then really soft for 30 minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Leigh Leopards, who also suffered a heavy defeat in round three, next up, Tomkins claimed that his side won\u2019t have any easy games unless they perform for the full 80 minutes.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cI don\u2019t think we\u2019ll have any easy games. I think every game will be pretty difficult for us. We\u2019ve got to turn up and play probably the way we did in the first 40, 50, 80 minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor us as a squad and the quality that we\u2019ve got, if we\u2019re not on for 80 minutes, then we\u2019re not going to get results, so it\u2019s pretty important for us to fix that up as a group of players and a group of staff, and we\u2019ll be working on that from Monday morning.\u201d<\/p>\n

A massive win in France for the Saints \ud83d\ude07#SuperLeague<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/pIlJVzxSvY<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Betfred Super League (@SuperLeague) February 28, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

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