Castleford Tigers 18-8 Catalans Dragons: Highlights, player ratings and talking points

Castleford Tigers took on Catalans Dragons tonight at the Jungle.

Both sides traded big hits in the early exchanges before Gareth O’Brien broke the deadlock in the 13th minute after a superb dummy from 40 metres out took him under the posts.

The Tigers should have had another moments later when Greg Eden fed Bureta Faraimo with an inside ball, but the hulking winger dropped the ball.

But, Castleford did have more points when Mahe Fonua’s superb run yielded a penalty with O’Brien slotting over a penalty before Eden got on the scoresheet.

O’Brien again added the extras to make it 14-0. Sam Tomkins did manage to hit back just before the break.

There were some early bizarre decisions from referee Tom Grant before Joe Chan crossed to bring Catalans back to within six points at 14-8.

O’Brien added another penalty for a 16-8 lead and was on target again nine minutes before the end to make it 18-8.

Faraimo thought he had scored in the last few minutes but it was inexplicably brought back for a double movement before Suaia Matagi was sinbinned.

Castleford held on 18-8 for a priceless win in their hunt for a play-off spot.

Highlights

Bureta Faraimo’s big hit on Tyrone May rocked the Catalans man off his feet.

Gareth O’Brien’s cheeky dummy and sprint to the line was impressive.

Talking points

1. Catalans falling away?

Catalans have been doing it tough with injuries, but so have every other Super League sides and Castleford have had their fair share of trouble. But, the Dragons have not exactly been pulling up trees in recent weeks with a late defeat to Leeds, a four-point win over Wakefield and then a poor loss away at Catalans.

2. McShane the man

When Paul McShane plays well, Castleford play well and he proved that with an accomplished display tonight. The hooker was played out of position at halfback but completely dominated proceedings. He will certainly be in the Team of the Week.

3. Castleford overcome ‘incident’

The Tigers were fully deserving of their win tonight, being the best team from the first minute and once they went into the lead they didn’t relinquish it. Led by that man McShane and Gareth O’Brien, Castleford were in inspired form and were able to overcome the ‘incident’ at training which cost head coach Lee Radford four players.

Player ratings

Castleford Tigers

23 Greg Eden – 8
5 Bureta Faraimo – 7
21 Alex Sutcliffe – 7
17 Mahe Fonua – 7
2 Derrell Olpherts – 7
31 Gareth O’Brien – 9
9 Paul McShane – 10
15 George Griffin – 7
12 Adam Milner – 6
10 George Lawler – 6
11 Kenny Edwards – 7
37 Alex Mellor – 7
13 Joe Westerman – 7
Substitutes
22 Daniel Smith – 7
25 Suaia Matagi – 6
28 Brad Martin – 6
33 Jason Qareqare – 6

Catalans Dragons

29 Sam Tomkins – 8
2 Tom Davies – 7
4 Dean Whare – 6
20 Tyrone May – 6
26 Romain Franco – 6
6 Mitchell Pearce – 6
7 Josh Drinkwater – 8
22 Dylan Napa – 7
9 Michael McIlorum – 6
16 Paul Seguier – 6
15 Benjamin Jullien – 6
27 Joe Chan – 9
14 Alrix Da Costa – 7
Substitutes
1 Arthur Mourgue – 6
21 Corentin Le Cam – 7
24 Mathieu Cozza – 6
28 Sam Kasiano – 5