Warrington coach Tony Smith lauded his side’s defending on Saturday but admitted they have plenty of work to do in attack after suffering a losing start to their Super League campaign at the hands of Catalans Dragons.

Last year’s runners-up started well at Stade Gilbert Brutus and took an early lead through Andre Savelio’s try on his first Warrington appearance.

But Catalans were level by the break as Richie Myler took advantage of a Rhys Evans mistake to score against his former club and, after Warrington were reduced to 12 men when Tom Lineham was sent to the sin bin immediately after half-time, the home side went ahead through the impressive Greg Bird.

Warrington got themselves back into the contest when Evans touched down two minutes from time but they could not get any closer and Catalans sealed a 20-12 win when Brayden Wiliame crossed right at the death.

It was not the best start to the Super League season for Warrington, or as preparation for next weekend’s World Club Series showdown with Brisbane Broncos, but while Smith admitted his side need to do much better when they are in possession, he still found positives to take away from the loss.

He said: “I thought it was a pretty average game standard wise, both teams will improve in attack but there were too many errors, too many penalties from us.”