Catalans Dragons 8 Warrington Wolves 16, final verdict

The mitigation was pre-established – a Wembley final in a fortnight with one of the game’s big prizes on offer and going to France on a six-day turnaround to face a team that has been the author of most of their pain this year, who were also fresh from two weeks off.

If they had decided to cut their losses, nobody would have blamed them. If Sam Burgess had decided to wrap his stars in cotton wool and keep them on the shelf until the Challenge Cup Final, not many would have batted an eyelid.

As he said post-match, however, that is not the team he has built.

The week they spent in France to prepare for this one may have been derided in some quarters as nothing more than a jolly-up, but the justification for it came in 80 glorious minutes in the Perpignan sun.

Wire recognised the importance of this game in terms of setting themselves up for an assault on Super League once the cup is done and dusted, and they were prepared to go to any lengths to win it.

In a first half played almost exclusively inside their 20-metre area, that became abundantly clear.

Their defence was desperate but connected, turning away everything a dangerous Dragons side threw at them to the point that when the dam did finally break with the game in its dying minutes, it was too little too late for the home side.

That was particularly the case on the right edge, which was tormented and terrorised in both previous meetings this season and as such, it was no surprise the hosts decided to target it again.

This time, though, they found a four-man unit whose synchronicity is getting better by the week.

Matty Nicholson’s reading of the attack and boundless energy makes sliding defence much easier while outside him, Rodrick Tai let nothing through.

The Papua New Guinean had a pretty tortuous Super League debut against this opposition, but he is clearly growing in confidence and can be relied upon on both sides of the ball.

And as well as his nerveless goal-kicking, Josh Thewlis was again a real threat carrying the ball and it was his interception that enticed a professional foul from Tom Davies and the game’s first points.

The one time they were cracked, the desperation came in as Nicholson somehow managed to hold Arthur Romano up over the line to highlight another superb display. In this form, it is easy to see why NRL clubs are reportedly queuing up to snap him up and why Warrington are so desperate to keep hold of him.

Picking out individuals seems unfair, however – this was a true team effort in which all 16 players used stood up to be counted.

That kind of effort meant that, against all odds, the game was still there to be won at half time even if one had to wonder how much their defensive toil had taken out of their tank.

However, when their chances came after the break, they were clinical and for that, they have George Williams to thank.

Spotting a weakness on the Catalans right, he had put Lachlan Fitzgibbon through the same hole twice in as many minutes and he was able to profit from it on the second occasion for the try that broke the game open.

Fitzgibbon runs some exceptional back-row lines and the prospect of him and Williams linking up more frequently is a tantalizing one.

Then, it was his bullet pass that caught a jamming Dragons defence out to afford Matty Ashton the freedom of southern France to gleefully skip over for the try that clinched victory.

When his team needed him, Williams strapped them to his back and carried them along as all good leaders do and in that respect, he is getting better by the week.

As well as the defensive desperation, that clinical edge will serve them well in the pressure games to come – they played the ball inside the Catalans 20 just nine times but they came away with points pretty much every time they attacked, whether through tries or the increasingly unerring boot of Thewlis.

When all of that is wrapped up, it is easy to see why this is being labelled by many as Warrington Wolves’ finest Super League victory in many a year.