Catalans Dragons boss John Cartwright has put his side’s poor second half against Castleford Tigers down to the heat, as they narrowly avoided a collapse.
After being 34-12 up with 20 minutes to go, Castleford brought the game back to 34-28 thanks to tries from Joe Stimson and two from Krystian Mapapalangi.
Ryan Carr’s men couldn’t quite pull off the comeback, but it certainly provided the French side with a scare after being in total control in terms of the scoreboard.
Solomona Faataape and Tommy Makinson both crossed for try doubles, whilst Toby Sexton and Franck Maria also dotted down for the hosts.
Assessing the game post-match, Cartwright said to Sky Sports: “It’s a hard one. I’m sat up there in an air-conditioned box, and sometimes, the conditions, you forget about them.
“Just makes you feel for the players from both sides, and they’ve both said it was really oppressive.
“I’ll just put those lapses in defence and the last 20 minutes down to the heat, because we came up with some plays there that you don’t want to see in your team.
“We’ll focus on the positives. I thought the halves got us around the park really well early. They controlled the game. We looked dangerous.
“The last 20 minutes, was just some soft tries you don’t like to see.”
The left edge in particular proved fruitful, with four tries total from Makinson and Faataape doing the game. Cartwright has praised his side’s attack, with the boss believing that, with the ball, they are able to compete with most of the league.
“We can score points, that won’t be an issue, I’m pretty sure,” he said. “I really like what I see from Doddy [Lewis Dodd].
“I’ve only been here a limited time, and I’m still getting to know the players and their attributes and habits and that type of thing, but I think our spine, we can compete with anyone and we’ll score points.”
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John Cartwright addresses Catalans Dragons switch
With three games now under his belt, former Hull FC boss Cartwright has revealed what the move to Perpignan has been like, and it’s fair to say he is loving life so far.
He said: “It’s been enjoyable through the people. It’s always about the people, and it’s been really enjoyable through the staff here.
“The players have made me feel very welcome. They’re a really good, hard-working group of lads; they’re bonded pretty tight.
“It’s that type of club where if you work on it, you can form really tight bonds. We’ve got players from Australia, England, the islands, we’ve got French players, so it’s a great opportunity to galvanise as a group.
“Every time we play away, it’s a bit of a hassle to get there, but you’ve got to use those things as a positive and use it as a way for your group to connect.”
