Super League: Wakefield Wildcats claim first win of season with 56-14 rout of Catalan Dragons
Wakefield Wildcats chalked up their first Super League win of the season with a 56-14 rout of Catalan Dragons.
Last Updated: 09/03/14 6:05pm
Taulima Tautai was in destructive form as he scored the opening two tries and laid on another for Jon Molloy as the home side put the game to bed by half-time, racing into a 32-0 lead.
Reece Lyne also touched down for a brace crossed for a brace, while Pita Godinet became the third player to grab a double in the early stages of the second half before Daniel Smith and Paul Sykes also helped themselves to tries.
After getting away with an early knock-on, former Leeds full-back Brent Webb gifted the Wildcats the lead in the 13th minute, dropping Jared Sammut's spiralling high kick to allow Tautai to dive on the loose ball to score his first try for the club.
Tautai then had the ball stripped 10 metres from the Catalan line allowing Sammut to kick Wakefield into an eight-point lead and the big Samoan continued to take centre stage as he burst through a gap before showing a good turn of pace and strength to touch down.
Catalan were clearly rattled by Tautai and failed to stop another marauding run from the restart, with Molloy on hand to receive a forward-looking pass to race clear.
There was no letting up from the hosts as Paul McShane put a neat kick in behind the Dragons defence which was well finished by Lyne.
Godinet double
Lyne was presented with his second try just before the break after Sammut chased his own towering kick before stripping the ball and putting the centre in.
Successive penalties gave Wakefield good field position and Godinet ghosted through the Dragons defence to score the first try of the second half.
Godinet showed another side of his game just minutes later when he intercepted Leon Pryce's telegraphed pass and sprinted 100 metres to go over in the corner.
Tautai thought he had his hat-trick at the end of another powerful run but was penalised for a double movement.
Good handling by the Dragons laid on the opportunity for Elliott Whitehead to get their first points of the afternoon before Pryce stepped his way through to add some respectability to the scoreline.
Normal service was quickly resumed when Smith touched down McShane's grubber kick and Sykes finished from Richard Mathers' pass, both converted by Sammut to complete a perfect day with the boot.
Whitehead coasted in for his second in the final minute but Catalan were left to reflect on a fourth straight defeat.