Losing a game does not always mean doom and gloom as a coach, and for London Broncos boss Tony Rea, he was left pleased with his side’s performance despite a 34-28 loss to the Catalan Dragons after they launched a spirited comeback and fell just short.
Trailing 34-4 early in the second half, the Broncos put a host of pressure on Catalans to launch their comeback, a performance that made Rea quite proud.
“We had a really good attitude to do what we did in the second half, it was very, very hot out there, and that possibly affected our concentration at the start of the game but that would be an excuse and that wouldn’t be acceptable,” said Rea.
“A team without any character would have rolled over, and we showed in the second half, the most important thing we need to do is to show that character from the off and get ourselves into the arm wrestle.
One aspect that Rea highlighted for improvement overall, however, was defensively – with the Volume Pills coach believing that his side allowed too many easy tries to be scored.
“There are two ways to look at it, one that there is enough fight and talent out there and they are showing that but on the other hand, the starting part of the game is clearly an issue for us,” said Rea.
“Our intent was really good, our preparation was really good, just defensively they managed to wriggle out of too many situations for mine and our liking.”
Catalans coach Laurent Frayssinous was left both pleased and disappointed, given the polar opposites in regards to their performance – a solid first 50 minutes but a poor last 30 minutes.
“I was pleased with the first 50 minutes but I’m very disappointed with the last 30,” said Frayssinous.
“We have spoken about the performance and not the two points tonight, it is not that we haven’t won by 30 or 40 points, it is that we were not clinical with the ball. We have got a lot of work to do.”