'Too many errors' thwart Castleford Tigers' comeback effort at Catalans Dragons
Ryan Carr lamented a few costly moments as Castleford Tigers’ fightback at Catalans Dragons fell short.
The Dragons made a fast start at a sun-baked Stade Gilbert Brutus when Tommy Makinson caught a high kick to dive over and was soon found on the overlap down the left to score for his second try after 13 minutes, with Guillermo Aispuro-Bichet’s conversion making it 12-0.
Tigers responded when Jason Qareqare finished off a flowing cross-field passing move. Franck Maria, though, touched down another for the Dragons between the posts in the 24th minute.
After Jack Brown ran in a debut try for Castleford, Solomona Faataape made the most of a fortunate low bounce from Lewis Dodd’s kick to score for the Dragons three minutes before half-time. A penalty from Tom Weaver cut the Tigers’ deficit to 10 points.
Dragons then looked to have taken the game away with two more tries early in the second half. A clever tap back inside from Makinson’s boot put Toby Sexton through before Faataape collected a grubber kick by Dodds to run in his second of the afternoon, making it 34-12 lead.
Castleford got another try on the board just after the hour when Joe Stimson kicked a loose ball through a static Dragons defence to touch down. Krystian Mapapalangi then scored twice but the home side held out.
Carr said: “You can’t concede 34 points and expect yourselves to win. Possession was 60/40 for majority of the game, and when it swung back we started to build our points, but probably just a few moments that cost us.”