Catalans Dragons win in Carney's debut

Todd Carney has made a winning debut for French Super League club Catalans Dragons eight months after being sacked by Cronulla.

Todd Carney

Todd Carney will meet with UK government officials for a visa hearing before joining Salford. (AAP)

Todd Carney has helped inspire the Catalans Dragons to a 38-18 win over Warrington Wolves in his Super League debut with the French side.

Carney played a hand in three of his side's six tries in a strong showing after missing the first two games of the season with a calf injury.

The BBC website said Carney was "the focus on his Super League debut and showed creativity and composure for the Dragons."

It was Carney's first rugby league appearance since being sacked by the Cronulla Sharks in mid-2014 after he was infamously photographed doing "the bubbler" at a urinal in a Sydney pub.

The Dragons offered the former NSW five-eighth and one-time international player of the year a lifeline, having previously been let go by NRL sides Canberra and the Sydney Roosters.

Catalans halfback and former Newcastle Knights playmaker Scott Dureau turned in a man-of-the-match performance on Saturday afternoon (Sunday morning AEDT), creating two tries and kicking seven goals from seven attempts.

Former Queensland and Kangaroos centre Willie Tonga went over for his first try of the season for Catalans inside 10 minutes while ex-Manly winger Michael Oldfield and former Newcastle Knights backrower Zeb Taia both crossed for two tries each.

With Warrington missing their regular halves Stefan Ratchford and Richie Myler, it was always going to be tough for the Wolves as they looked to bounce back from their World Club Series defeat to St George Illawarra Dragons last weekend.

Catalans coach Laurent Frayssinous was delighted with his side's performance but insisted some areas needed improvement.

"I'm very happy," he said after the match.

"We are capable of doing some good things with the ball and that will only improve as our combinations improve.

"Defensively, we are a much better team than we showed today. I want us to be consistent week in, week out - that is what I am interested in."

Warrington coach Tony Smith described it as a "tough old game".

"We weren't quite at the races today," he added.

"We got ourselves back to the races at one point and built some momentum but that break away try swung it back enormously."


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Source: AAP


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