Dureau: Exiles Wary of Tomkins Threat

We took the opportunity earlier today to speak to The Exiles scrum-half, Scott Dureau.

This is Scott’s first inclusion in the Exiles squad and is joined by fellow Catalan Dragons team mate Setaimata Sa, with Lopini Paea and Louis Anderson having withdrawn through injury. So far this season, Dureau has scored 8 tries and 68 goals, with the Catalans finding themselves in third place.

Are you looking forward to your first taste of the Exiles games?
Yeah, this is my first experience at representative footie, it’s pretty exciting getting to meet my fellow new players. It’ll be good fun developing a few combinations, working a few things out and playing well together.

Do you think you’ve got long enough to train together?
Yeah I think so. We’ve got the guys together here, so we’ll work on our combinations and hopefully be good enough to get a win.

As a Catalans player, do you think that it would be a good idea to also allow the French players to be available for Exiles selection?
Yes - I’m not sure what the rules are, but there are a few guys in the French team who are good enough to play at this level. I think it would be a good idea; a few of the boys have spoken about it and would really like the opportunity to be included in the Exiles selections.

Who do you see as the main threat from the England squad?
Sam Tomkins. He’ll be their main threat, he’s playing well in the Super League and is very dangerous when he has the ball so we need to make sure we do a good job on him.

This year the series is to be played over two games, so we could see a 1-1 draw - is that good for the concept?
I’m not sure, it was only played over one game last year. If it did end up 1-1 I think the guys would want a decider, but that’s up to the RFL to look at. We’ll take one game at a time; hopefully we’ll win the first one and go into the second one with a bit of confidence.

The 4 nations includes England, Australia and New Zealand, what do you think about adding the Exiles to complete the set?
That’d be exciting and there would be a fair bit of interest from Australia and New Zealand. I’m not sure it’d ever happen, but if it did, there would be some fascinating games.

We would like to thank Scott for spending a few minutes talking to us about the International Origin series.

Tickets for both matches in the International Origin Series are now on general sale and can be purchased through the RFL Ticket office on 0844 856 1113 or by visiting rugbyleaguetickets.co.uk.

Tickets for the opening fixture at Langtree Park, St Helens, on Saturday June 16 (6.45pm) cost from £18 (£9 concessions) for standing and £21 (£10 concessions) seating. Tickets for the all-seater second fixture at Galpharm Stadium, Huddersfield, on Wednesday July 4 (7.45pm) cost from £21 (£10 concessions).

Interview, write up: Daniel Bell

Photo credit: SWpix.com