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Mark Bazeley
Dragons and French captain Ben Garcia also knows why success for the club in the Super League benefits the game in the country; Catalans start against Wakefield Trinity on Saturday; watch 66 matches of the 2023 Super League season live on Sky Sports
Last updated: 10/02/23 18:18
Catalan’s Ben Garcia captains both club and country
Few players have been at the forefront of the revival of French rugby league more than Ben Garcia.
Captain of the Catalans Dragons in the Super League and the French national team at the Rugby League World Cup last year, the forward in the back row is undoubtedly one of the icons of the 13-man code in his homeland.
Garcia has also been an integral part of the Dragons’ rise to regular contenders for honors in the Super League, and the 29-year-old also knows what it means to the health of the game in the country to stay there. case – certain with the hosting of the next World Cup in two years’ time.
“Catalans fly the flag of sport in France, and if the Catalans Dragons do well and develop some players, I hope it will be successful for the French team in the World Cup, so we have to keep going,” said Garcia. Sky Sports.
“It was a good experience last year [with France at the World Cup] and we have a very young squad. We know, but we are building for the 2025 World Cup in France.
“It’s a good experience for some young players to play in some big games in this tournament, and it’s positive.”
What has impressed Garcia the most are the youngsters starting to come through the system at the Catalans to play alongside an overseas contingent that has been strengthened this year by the signing of Tonga internationals Sio Siua Taukieaho and Adam Keighran from NRL side Sydney Roosters, and winger. Tom Johnstone and forward Manu Ma’u from Wakefield Trinity and Hull FC.
Garcia led France to the Rugby League World Cup last year
But among the names and stars like England captain Sam Tomkins and former New South Wales international Mitchell Pearce, there is plenty of home-grown talent. Indeed, a look through the Dragons squad list sees 10 French players between numbers 1 and 17.
Exciting backs Arthur Mourgue and Matthieu Laguerre are two in particular who have lit up the Super League since emerging in recent seasons and Garcia, whose junior career took him from Avignon to the youth set-up at NRL side Brisbane Broncos before joining the Catalans in June 2013, believe there are many more French talents waiting to break through.
“We will prove more this year,” Garcia said. “We have a lot of new young players who have trained with us in pre-season and I’m sure some of them will play this year.
“It’s a long process from the club, but at the end of the day we have Arthur Mourgue, Matthieu Laguerre, and Jordan Dezaria who all play in the Super League.
Arthur Mourgue is one of the most exciting French players to have come through the Catalans system
“That [Catalans] it’s like a rugby league machine in France… It’s pretty big.”
Since returning to the Dragons midway through the 2016 season after six months in Australia with the Penrith Panthers, Garcia has been on the pitch for the best time in the club’s two decades.
He was part of the side that stunned Warrington Wolves to lift the Challenge Cup at Wembley in 2018, becoming the first overseas team to lift the iconic trophy just a season after being nearly relegated from Super League, then captaining them in a historic 2021 campaign. .
Last year, the Dragons fell short of their previous season’s peak when they won the League Leaders Shield and reached the Grand Final for the first time, finishing fourth and then going down 20-10 at home to runners-up Leeds. Rhinos in the first round of the play-offs.
Garcia took on the Leeds defense in last year’s play-off defeat
However, Garcia – whose end of the year was hampered by a gruesome ear injury – has taken plenty of positives from 2022 and is hoping for at least a top four finish this time around, with the Dragons kicking off their season away to Wakefield on Friday. , 17 February (kick-off 19.30).
“It’s been a good season,” Garcia said. “We made the play-offs and there was disappointment at the end of the year with the quarter-final at home, which was the defeat.
“But I’ve found the consistency we’ve been missing for the last three years, and we’re making the play-offs which is the most important thing for the club.
“We just have to work hard. We have some young players who will bring freshness, but consistency at home and away is the most important thing.”
The new Super League season kicks off on Thursday, February 16 when Warrington Wolves host Leeds Rhinos. Watch 66 live matches, including the Magic Weekend, play-offs and Grand Final, on Sky Sports in 2023 and streamed on NOW TV.
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