Saturday 2nd March 2013, 18:00 - Round:5

The boot of Thomas Bosc got Catalan Dragons out of trouble in Perpignan tonight to deny Wakefield Trinity Wildcats what would have been an impressive victory.

The France international notched a 75th-minute match-winning drop-goal to break the Wildcats’ resistance, just seconds after converting Damien Blanch’s try from the touchline to level the scores.

Defeat was tough on Wakefield, who excelled at one of the hardest places to go in Super League, but their failure to protect the 16-0 lead they opened early on cost them dear, with Jason Batieri’s last-minute try slightly flattering the hosts.

Even after Catalan levelled at 16-16, Wakefield still went back ahead through Lee Smith, but the precision of Bosc was ultimately the difference, leaving Wakefield to suck up a second tough defeat in a row having lost 18-16 to 100 per cent Huddersfield Giants last Sunday.

They had looked to be on course for two points tonight, though, and were three tries ahead with 20 minutes on the clock.

Frankie Mariano, in the side in the absence of injured captain Danny Kirmond, broke through and laid on a score for Richard Mathers and, when Blanch knocked on, Paul Sykes picked the ball up and fed Dean Collis, who duly put in Peter Fox for a quick second.

Coach Richard Agar, who took the France job on a part-time basis a fortnight ago, must not have believed what he was seeing, and his side added to their lead on the 20-minute mark, with Collis going in after an Ali Lauitiiti break.

That signalled the start of a Catalan fightback, though, and Mathias Pala was first over, with Gregory Mounis then doing the same after Kyle Amor gave away a cheap penalty.

Two Bosc goals left it 12-16 at the break and both sides had near misses after the restart, with Blanch pushed in touch by Fox and Mathers deemed offside when grounding what would have been his second try.

Blanch found the room to squeeze in for a legitimate score, though, and - with Bosc’s failure to convert leaving the scores level - Vincent Duport then had one ruled out for a knock-on.

Wakefield’s response was a clinical one, with Danny Washbrook breaking, Smith scoring and Sykes converting.

But Catalan sensed another comeback and Blanch snuck in at the flag despite the attentions of Ben Cockayne, Bosc then levelling with the most brilliant conversion from out wide.

He then split the posts from 30 metres and missed a simple penalty, but it mattered little as Batieri rambled over in the dying seconds.