Castleford 6-16 Catalans: Player ratings and three major talking points

Castleford went down 16-6 to Catalans at the Jungle, but just how did the players rate and what were the three major talking points?

1. Liam Watts should be an England player

He was named at halfback in Castleford’s clash against Catalans and the makeshift playmaker more than played his part in a tough encounter. Watts shrugged off a nasty-looking injury in the first-half to continue helping the beleaguered Tigers around the field.

2. Paul McShane was so sorely missed

Paul McShane is Castleford’s lynchpin and he showed just how important he is to this Tigers outfit by just not being there. The Tigers lacked any kind of zip around acting half and his leadership in the middle was evidently absent.

3. Catalans keep chalking wins

It wasn’t pretty, but good teams win when they aren’t playing at their best and the Dragons were far from at the races. However, they got the two points and that’s all that matters in the grand scheme of things.

Castleford Tigers
1 Niall Evalds – 7
2 Derrell Olpherts – 8
20 James Clare – 7
4 Michael Shenton (C) – 8
30 Brad Graham – 7
8 Liam Watts – 9
7 Danny Richardson – 7
22 Daniel Smith – 8
13 Adam Milner – 7
15 George Griffin – 7
11 Oliver Holmes – 7
17 Alex Foster – 8
14 Nathan Massey – 7
Substitutes
18 Jacques O‘Neill – 8
19 Tyla Hepi – 6
26 Lewis Bienek – 8
29 Sam Hall – 6

Catalans Dragons
1 Arthur Mourgue – 7
20 Mathieu Laguerre – 7
4 Dean Whare – 6
3 Samisoni Langi – 6
5 Fouad Yaha – 7
6 James Maloney – 8
7 Josh Drinkwater – 8
8 Gil Dudson – 8
14 Alrix Da Costa – 6
10 Julian Bousquet – 7
15 Benjamin Jullien – 7
12 Mike McMeeken – 7
17 Mickael Goudemand – 6
Substitutes
11 Matt Whitley – 5
18 Lambert Belmas – 6
24 Jason Baitieri – 6
28 Sam Kasiano – 5