Wigan’s duo join Catalans for campaign
WIGAN’S former Catalans Dragons forward Romain Navarrete has rejoined his old club on loan, along with winger or full-back Lewis Tierney.
The pair are currently on the fringes of the Warriors team and will play for the French club until the end of the season.
They trained with their new teammates for the first time in Perpignan on Thursday and could play in Sunday’s game at St Helens.
Catalans new head coach Steve McNamara, whose side are facing a battle to avoid relegation from Super League, said: “We are delighted to add Romain and Lewis to our squad. They add both quality and depth at an important time of the year.”
Navarrete, 23, who made his Super League debut and 11 appearances with the Dragons last year, is in his first season with Wigan but has been restricted to just nine appearances so far.
Tierney, 22, was a member of Wigan’s Grand Final-winning team last October but recently lost his fullback spot to a fit-again Sam Tomkins and is currently behind wingers Tom Davies, Liam Marshall and Joe Burgess in the pecking order.
Wigan rugby director Kris Radlinski said: “With the imminent return of Dom Manfredi and the emergence of both Liam Marshall and Tom Davies, who have been playing so well, Lewis has been left frustrated on the sidelines and limited to just five appearances in his preferred position on the wing.
“The player registration for the Super 8s is fast approaching and with this opportunity having arisen we felt it would be wrong to stand in Lewis’ way. Lewis has been very professional and mature about the situation and we all want him to go to the Dragons and have a fantastic couple of months.
“With regards to Romain, he has become increasingly unsettled in recent weeks and has flown home several times to be with his sister who has recently had a baby.
“Family is clearly very important to Romain and it is not fair on someone to see them so visibly down. With the return of several first-team players in recent weeks, Romain’s game time has also been limited. Consequently we have agreed a loan deal with Catalans as we believe this is the right thing to do for both the player and the club. We will continue to monitor the situation going forwards and wish Romain well for the rest of the season.”
Leeds coach Brian McDermott is predicting a “cagey” contest against Hull in their Super League clash at Headingley tonight.
“It will be an interesting one, how they play this game, the same as us,” McDermott said. “We’ve all got a style of play and maybe a special play that we’d like to use or a team that we’d like to field and you don’t want to show your hand too much.”