Castleford 14-21 Catalans

Castleford: (12) 14
Tries: Donlan, Shenton
Goals: Westerman 3

Catalans: (2) 21
Tries: Mounis, Croker, Bosc
Goals: Bosc 3
Drop: Bosc

Catalans Dragons put in a strong second-half display to get the better of newly-promoted Castleford.

The Dragons overcame the sinbinning of David Ferriol after 66 minutes for their first away win since last April.

Trailing 12-2 at half-time, Gregory Mounis, Jason Croker and Thomas Bosc scored tries after the break with Bosc adding three goals and a drop goal.

Stuart Donlan and Michael Shenton went over for first-half tries while Joe Westerman kicked three goals.

The Dragons were dealt an injury blow before the game when Adam Mogg was ruled out with a hamstring injury with 20-year-old rugby union convert Jean Philippe Baile coming in.

They made the better start but a Bosc penalty was all they had to show and they fell behind when Brent Sherwin's long pass put Donlan in for a try which Westerman converted.

The Tigers scored their second try six minutes before the break when Shenton took an inside pass from Sherwin to go in over the posts.

But the Dragons showed more clinical finishing after the break with two tries.

First, loose forward Mounis finished off a neat handling move and then Croker, Super League's oldest player, was first to Bosc's kick through.

Bosc kicked both conversions but Castleford drew level after 57 minutes with a Westerman penalty.

The decisive score came 11 minutes from the end when Bosc forced his way over for the Dragons' third try, and he added his fourth goal.

Castleford, who had Ryan McGoldrick sin-binned for persistent offside, pressed for an equalising score but Bosc clinched victory for the French side with a late drop-goal.

"We knew it was going to be tough so I'm just happy to get the two points.

"We had a lot of over-plays in the first half and needed to change the way we played a little bit which we did."

"I'm proud of the effort of the guys but we shouldn't have to work that hard. We need to be a bit smarter. We played dumb with the football.

"It was a massive step up and we competed but we want to do more than that. We need to regroup and build on the good things we did."

Castleford: Dorn, Wainwright, Shenton, McGoldrick, Donlan, Thackeray, Sherwin, Leafa, Henderson, Korkidas, Guttenbeil, Lupton, Westerman.
Replacements: Moore, Huby, Haberecht, Boyle.

Catalans Dragons: Greenshields, Stacul, Baile, Wilson, Khattabi, Bosc, McGuire, Chan, Gorrell, Ferriol, Gossard, Croker, Carlaw.
Replacements: Guisset, Raguin, Mounis, Casty.

Referee: P Bentham (Warrington)