SORE LOSER
Tomkins fires up Dragons after Castleford stinker
AFTER delivering a “blueprint” of how to lose, Sam Tomkins says Catalans Dragons must get back in the black tonight.
The England captain leads them against champions St Helens in Perpignan. And they owe Dragons fans a performance after Sunday’s shocking golden-point defeat at Castleford.
Steve McNamara’s error-ridden side gaffed more times than Nadine Dorries in midweek and certainly fluffed their drop-goal attempts.
After throwing away a winning position in the 17-16 defeat, Tomkins admitted: “It just wasn’t good enough.
“It was really frustrating. We gave ourselves a blueprint on how to lose a game.
“We really undersold ourselves. We did a hell of a lot wrong and set ourselves up for that finish.
“We’ve had a few performances that have dipped and every now and again you accept a bad game but that one was really below par.”
Catalans have slipped to fourth, while leaders Saints are in great shape and full-back Tomkins knows his side can ill afford a repeat showing.
He said: “Whoever you play you’d put a positive spin on it.
“If we were playing Cas again we’d say that was perfect, if it was Toulouse we’d say that was too.
“Whoever it is you have to improve in your own performance and that’s what we’re doing this week.
“We’re playing the best team and to win we have to be at our very best.”
Catalans are without England duo Mike McMeeken and Tom Davies after they suffered injuries at Castleford – and Saints have already beaten the French side twice this year.
Tomkins, who made his 250th Super League appearance last weekend, said: “They beat us in the Grand Final, they beat us in the first game of the year and they knocked us out of the Challenge Cup here, so we’re probably due a win.
“They’ve beaten us the last few times which isn’t ideal but we know the areas we need to improve and Saints aren’t unbeatable.
“They’re a very, very good team but we need to play our absolute best and try to exploit any areas of weakness they do have.”