Castleford Tigers crumble against Catalans Dragons

Catalans Dragons travelled to the Jungle to face Castleford Tigers in the hopes of ending their run of poor away form and they did so with a bang.

The Dragons had lost their last three on the road but it they stopped that streak tonight and they could have ended the game at half-time really given how they dominated.

Andy Last’s side were looking to build on the loss to Leigh last week and the main change saw George Griffin in for the ill Kenny Edwards.

📥 How we start tonight!@GeoShieldUK • #COYF • #SLCasCat pic.twitter.com/U3rjFIkNqB

— Castleford Tigers (@CTRLFC) May 12, 2023

As for the Dragons they were without their big man Sia Taukeiaho with Jordan Dezaria replacing him, whilst Mitchell Pearce partnered Sam Tomkins in the halves.

Castleford went in front early last week against Leigh but this week they fell behind after just eight minutes with prop Dezaria forcing his way over, just minutes before Adam Keighran added a second.

The Australian centre converted both tries to make it 12-0 after just 12 minutes and with that Castleford never looked like getting back in the game.

18 minutes brought up 19 points with NRL signing Matt Ikuvalu scoring his second in as many games, taking advantage from a six again.

The Tigers did respond through Alex Mellor who claimed a Paul McShane kick to put Cas on the board.

Just five minutes later though Tom Johnstone crossed over to extend the French side’s lead and they’d add another two before the break with Keighran scoring hid second of the night before Ben Garcia crossed over just before the half.

That meant it was 34-6 going in at half time leaving Andy Last with a huge job to try and recharge his troops.

The onslaught continued in the second-half though as Catalans tacked on another try five minutes in through Paul Seguier.

There was some response from Castleford via Bureta Faraimo who scored in the corner but just 10 minutes later Tomkins added another Dragons try.

Castleford did form some kind of fight back with both Faraimo and Mellor adding their second of the night but that was only enough to make it 46-24, leaving them a long way short of a third win this season.

That flurry was all too late with the game finishing 46-24, the only positive for the Tigers being that they did respond with some points this week compared to the 20 unanswered they conceded against Leigh the week prior.

As for Catalans they return to Perpignan and will face Wakefield when Super League restarts after the Challenge Cup fixtures next week.