Catalans Dragons 18 Huddersfield Giants 30 - Both coaches happy as Giants spoil French party

The Dragons received a guard of honour from Huddersfield players who had just won 30-18 thanks to a second-half comeback inspired by Olly Ashall-Bott and Oliver Russell.

But defeat could not take the shine away from the shield for McNamara as he said: “To finish top of the competition and show that level of consistency that is needed, is a massive stride forward for the club and tremendous for everybody involved with Catalans Dragons, our supporters, players, staff and directors.

“And more than that it is tremendous for French Rugby League and the town of Perpignan.

“In our short history we have created great stories and there are more stories to come.

“It’s a new name up there, it’s great publicity. When you get a non-English team winning the league leaders’ shield, it creates headlines so we’re very happy and we will celebrate and acknowledge our achievement.

“We should not underestimate our achievements and just how difficult it is to finish top.”

Catalans were 18-12 ahead at half-time but could not halt a Huddersfield rival which left Giants coach Ian Watson beaming with pride.

He said: “It’s a great win coming to Catalans, it’s always great to win here.

“We were really disappointed last week, we were flat and lacked energy and we told ourselves we couldn’t do that again this week.

“We needed more energy than the Catalans team. We knew they would make some changes for this game and they started with enthusiasm and it hurt us but we showed great resilience to come back and win the game.”