Castleford suffer triple injury blow during defeat to Catalans
Photo: Allan McKenzie/SWpix
Castleford lost full-back Niall Evalds and playmakers Gareth Widdop and Jacob Miller to injuries during their 46-22 defeat to Catalans at the Mend-A-Hose Jungle.
Steve McNamara’s Dragons produced a stunning first half display that saw them take a 34-6 lead into the break. Tries coming from Jordan Dezaria, Adam Keighran (2), Matt Ikuvalu, Tom Johnstone and captain Ben Garcia in the opening 40.
Castleford’s only try of the first half came through Alex Mellor, before the vice-captain made it a brace in the second half. He was joined on the scoresheet by winger Bureta Faraimo, but further tries from Matt Whitley and Sam Tomkins handed the Tigers their 10th defeat of the season.
Ex-Salford full-back Evalds left the field through a pectoral issue, while Jacob Miller will miss next week’s Challenge Cup sixth round tie with Hull after failing his head injury assessment.
Former England international Widdop was also forced from the field through an ankle issue.
Castleford boss reacts to defeat
“We faced some real adversity during the game and we’ve managed to come out of it in the second half with a little bit of respectability,” Last said.
“But I’m desperately disappointed with that first 40 minutes.
“I’m really disappointed with the scoreline and the result, but happy with how we responded at half-time to the challenge that I put to them.
“The game is ultimately quite gladiatorial and there is an aspect of it when you just have to run hard, tackle hard, show fight, courage and scrap.
“But in that first half we weren’t prepared to do that – we wanted to play a little bit too pretty and we didn’t dig our shoulders so the scoreboard started to get away from us.
“At half-time, I said I wanted a lot more and basically challenged them as men and they played as men with some heart and desire.
“Yes, we knew the scoreboard was gone but there were some positives in that second half.”
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