Chris Chester’s relief tempered by sloppy errors in Wakefield Trinity win

WAKEFIELD TRINITY boss Chris Chester is delighted to be off the mark ahead of next Friday’s derby at Leeds Rhinos – but less pleased with forward Tinirau Arona.
Wakefield's James Batchelor is halted by Catalans defence. (Picture: Jonathan Gawthorpe)Wakefield's James Batchelor is halted by Catalans defence. (Picture: Jonathan Gawthorpe)
Wakefield's James Batchelor is halted by Catalans defence. (Picture: Jonathan Gawthorpe)

Trinity beat Catalans Dragons 22-12 to record their first win of the season and Chester said: “The monkey’s off our back now, we’ve got the two points and we’re off and running.

“We’ve just got to make sure we come up with another good performance next week. We needed a win, it helps everybody and I thought we were good value.

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“If we keep turning up with that endeavour and energy we’ll win a lot more games than we lose. There’s lots to be positive about.”

Wakefield's Reece Lynne is tackled by Catalans' Sam Tomkins. (Picture: Jonathan Gawthorpe)Wakefield's Reece Lynne is tackled by Catalans' Sam Tomkins. (Picture: Jonathan Gawthorpe)
Wakefield's Reece Lynne is tackled by Catalans' Sam Tomkins. (Picture: Jonathan Gawthorpe)

Chester added: “I thought we did a lot of good things in the first half. We matched their physicality, we controlled the ball really well and kicked it well.

“We executed some really nice tries and I was delighted with the defensive side of the game this week. We knew they were going to be direct, but we managed to force them into a few errors in the first half.

“I think they were around 67 per cent and we were around 85 – and for the full game. There’s a lot of things we did well, but I was really disappointed with the game management in the last 20 minutes, especially when they went down to 12 men.

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“We tried chasing the game when we were eight points in front. The Tinirau Arona sin-binning was stupid – and Broughy [Danny Brough] missed touch as well [with a penalty].”

Keegan Hirst was yellow-carded for a high tackle, but Arona’s sin-binning came after he spilled a pass close to the line and then delayed Catalans taking a quick restart. Trinity have had four sin-binnings in their three games this year and Chester said: “First and foremost he needs to catch the thing!

“If he does that and goes under the posts it’s game over. He compounded that by kicking the ball dead which means a 20-metre restart and gives them zero tackles and then he tries picking the ball up and slowing the play down. It’s stupid. He’s an experienced player, he knows better and I’ve had a few words with him.”

Chester said Danny Kirmond (biceps) and Pauli Pauli (knee) could return at Leeds.