Catt plays through pain barrier for Exiles
The 36-year-old flyhalf was passed fit to play only 90 minutes before the match, after which Smith revealed talks have already started with a view to Catt playing on next season.
“We have to manage him carefully — Catty has only had 40 to 50 minutes training this week,” said Smith.
“This morning we didn’t know if he would play; at lunchtime he said he would give it a spin, and by five o’clock he’d played 80 minutes. It wasn’t a terrific performance, but at the end he was still making the plays and retrieving situations.
Irish, who have collected 14 out of a possible 15 points by winning their three opening matches in Pool One, are expecting a hot reception in the return match in France next weekend — after full-back Peter Hewat’s injury-time penalty denied Perpignan even a losing bonus point.
Smith said: “It’s going to be very tough down there, with an inexperienced Italian referee. I’m sure Perpignan will be revved-up — it’s going to be a lions’ den.”
Although Irish have a five-point lead in the group, Smith believes they still have plenty to do to ensure qualification for the quarterfinals. If you start looking at the table, it’s a bit like clock-watching; it’s a recipe for disaster,” he added.
Perry Freshwater, the England World Cup prop who captains Perpignan, admitted his side, suffering the frustrations of the language barrier, need to improve their discipline after conceding two tries when their numbers were depleted by yellow cards.
He said: “Sometimes the boys can lose their heads — and some of them do. I don’t want to take the fire out of the bellies of anyone, but we need to be less fiery.
“The boys, the coaches, everyone is up in arms as they often are — but it isn’t about the ref. We need to go away and look at ourselves.
“You get a lot of frustration, because they can’t talk to the ref and don’t know why things happen — but we just have to learn to live with it. We’ve got to learn to react to different referees in different competitions.”
Freshwater acknowledges next Saturday’s rematch will be tough.
“We need a big game — the pressure is on. But it’s difficult when you are chasing points,” he said.
“We need a bonus-point win next week — and we need to win all our games now to qualify. London Irish are a very strong side, and they took their chances well.”
Tries: Casey, Penalty. Cons: Hewat. Pens: Hewat 4.
Tries: Plante. Cons: Porical. Pens: Porical 3.
Hewat, De Vedia, D. Armitage, Mapusua, Tagicakibau, Catt, Richards, D. Murphy, Paice, Skuse, Kennedy, Casey, Roche, Danaher, Leguizamon.
Porical, Manas, Marty, Grandclaude, Plante, Hume, Durand, Freshwater, Tincu, Bozzi, Alvarez, Hines, Vaki, Chouly, Tuilagi.
M Changleng (Scotland).
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