Catalan Dragons 39 Castleford Tigers 30: Powell aims to iron out defensive deficiencies

The hosts led 30-6 at half-time thanks to tries from Daryl Millard, Vincent Duport, Louis Anderson, Steven Menzies and Morgan Escare, all converted by Thomas Bosc, with Josh Thompson crossing for the visitors’ sole score.

The Tigers came roaring back after the break, Thompson getting his second, Justin Carney scoring twice and Daryl Clark also going over.

But Eloi Pelissier’s sixth try for Catalan and a late drop goal and penalty from Bosc made sure the hosts held off the fightback.

Powell said: “I’m proud of our second-half performance, but I was bitterly disappointed at our first half, we never really got a grip of the game but I thought opportunities-wise it was pretty even in the first half, but we just couldn’t take any.

“I asked the guys for a response after half-time and obviously we got that. A couple of centimetres in Daryl Clark being offside and we could easily have won the game but we need to be able to defend better.

“Thirty-nine points conceded is way, way too many and ultimately we’ve still lost the game. It’s something we know we’ve got to work on and we’ll continue down that path.”

Powell praised his side’s try-scoring ability, adding: “This team can play rugby league, there is no doubt about that.

“We scored some outstanding tries and we were very, very close to coming away with something, but we haven’t and we need to work hard to make sure our deficiencies are ironed out.”

Dragons coach Laurent Frayssinous was left disappointed after his side nearly threw away a 30-6 half-time lead.

“I’m pretty disappointed really, I think we were pretty clinical with our first-half performance and the scoreboard reflected what we wanted to do with the ball,” he said. “But in the second half we were too soft and took some short cuts defensively.

“All the players one by one made mistakes in defence and there was a lack of energy.

“It’s the second home game in a row that we have conceded a try in our in goal area when we should have dealt with it. We gave them a try rather than making the opposition build up to score a try.”

Catalan Dragons: Escare, Blanch, Menzies, Duport, Millard, Pryce, Bosc, Simon, Henderson, Casty, Taia, Anderson, Mounis. Replacements: Maria, Pelissier, Larroyer, Fakir.

Castleford Tigers: Tansey, Carney, Shenton, Thompson, Dixon, Chase, Ellis, Mason, Clark, Huby, Gilmour, Holmes, Massey. Replacements: Walker, Millington, Milner, Boyle.

Referee: P Bentham (Warrington).