Castleford Tigers 14 Catalans Dragons 40: Israel Folau destroys Castleford Tigers

He caused a furore by not taking a knee in support of the Black Lives Matter movement when Catalans Dragons restarted their own Super League campaign with a dismal 34-6 defeat to St Helens last weekend.

The centre did likewise on his return to Emerald Headingley again today but this time was joined by team-mates Sam Moa and Benjamin Jullien who also opted not to make the stance.

Castleford - playing for the first time since March - looked all set to heap more misery on the French side as they quickly opened up a 14-0 lead inside just 15 minutes.

Captain Michael Shenton crossed for two tries, both converted by Danny Richardson who also added a penalty following yet more ill-discipline from shoddy Catalans.

However, their opponents finally woke up, sorted their issues and ended up scoring 40 unanswered points with the brilliant Folau proving phenomenal.

The 31-year-old, who scored on debut when Catalans beat Castleford in Perpignan in February, was simply too good for the West Yorkshire side who will be hugely disappointed with how they collapsed here.

He scored one brilliant solo try of his own having got on the outside of Shenton and streaked away before swatting aside full-back Greg Eden.

But the former dual-code Aussie international also created three other tries for his side, including two for his winger Tom Davies and another for Joel Tomkins.

Yet coach Steve McNamara thinks Folau can improve further still.

“I hope he gets better and he’s determined to. He’s got the potential to improve," he said.

“But his wife is due to give birth any time now and he nearly didn’t get on the plane!”

Folau beat Shenton initially to send Davies over for his first in the 23rd minute and Castleford’s problems escalated after Peter Mata'utia was sin-binned for a dangerous tackle on Samson Langi.

While he was off the pitch, Catalans scored twice more via Alrix Da Costa and that Folau stunner for James Maloney’s conversions to put them 16-14 ahead at the break.

But Castleford didn’t help themselves, a calamitous error from Derrell Olpherts behind his own line gifting Ben Garcia a simple score at the start of the second period.

James Clare also missed a glorious chance to get them back in the game and they were made to pay as Catalans finished strongly, Folau rising brilliantly to steal in ahead of Clare to claim a Maloney kick and instantly supply Tomkins on his way back down to ground.

He then slipped Davies over for his second, although the Castleford defence was abysmal, and after Maloney added a penalty, Jason Baitieri rounded off the rout with a seventh try for McNamara’s side.

Castleford Tigers: Eden; Olpherts, Mata’utia, Shenton, Clare; Trueman, Richardson; Griffin, McShane, Millington, McMeeken, Holmes, Milner. Substitutes: Sene-Lefao, Foster, O’Neill, Hepi.

Catalans Dragons: Mourgue, Davies, Folau, Langi, Yaha; Maloney, Drinkwater; Bousquet, Garcia, Moa, Whitley, J Tomkins, Casty. Substitutes: Da Costa, Jullien, Baitieri, Kasiano.

Referee: Robert Hicks (Oldham)