And the long-serving local, named man of the match after the showdown at The Shay, believes coach Kyle Eastmond has inspired enough self-belief in a squad put together on a tight budget amid financial issues at the club to carry on producing that level of performance on a regular basis.
It took the Dragons until the second half to break the deadlock – and that was through a penalty-goal – with Steve McNamara’s men limited to 14 points in all.
Fairbank, signed from Huddersfield in 2015 and known as ‘Bob’, said: “We knew we needed a one-to-seventeen performance against a team with the quality Catalans have, and I think we produced that.
“To keep them out for as long as we did and then limit them to two tries reflected the work on defence which we have done throughout pre-season, and it’s a platform we know we can build on.
“Kyle wants us to be brave and he has given us the belief and mentality to play that way, we have scored tries in previous matches this year, and now we have to keep on producing that level and add to it.”
Eastmond said: “Bob was brilliant and always leads the way with his actions.
“But everyone contributed and I think we earned a bit of resect from Catalans with the way we conducted ourselves, which was pleasing.
“Everything starts with desperation to defend and hold teams out. It’s the minimum I want and expect and it’s how we practise and prepare.
“To hold Catalans at bay for as long as we did is down to more than tactics and technique. It was about desire.
“There were plenty of positives but also some lessons we will try to learn from as we aim to get better.
