Castleford Tigers suffer crushing defeat at Catalans

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Ben Pomeroy was red carded in his second successive home-game after flipping Ash Gibson

Castleford's winning start in the Super 8s came to a shuddering halt as they collapsed to a 44-26 defeat against 12-man Catalans Dragons.

The Tigers failed to recover from a disastrous start at the Stade Gilbert Brutus where they were conceded four unanswered tries in the opening 22 minutes.

Catalans had Ben Pomeroy red-carded for the second successive home game on 28 minutes for an X-rated tackle on Ashley Gibson but Castleford were unable to capitalise.

Gibson was stretchered off after receiving lengthy treatment on the pitch, and Castleford's injury woes deepened in the second half when Michael Shenton was forced off with a shoulder injury.

Tony Gigot scored a hat-trick for the Dragons while Todd Carney showed the home support what they have been missing this season with an excellent attacking display.

Castleford were beaten by a late Scott Dureau drop goal when they visited Perpignan in February but any hopes of a close contest were quickly put to bed.

Having conceded a penalty inside the opening minute, Castleford conceded the opening try less than 60 seconds later when Tony Gigot burrowed over from Morgan Escare's pass.

The Tigers' indiscipline continued, with Justin Carney fortunate to not receive a yellow card for tackling Eascare in the air, and they conceded a second try on nine minutes when the influential Todd Carney teed up Zeb Taia.

Disjointed

Four Castleford players were unable to prevent Jeff Lima touching down, and more disjointed defending resulted in Thomas Bosc sending Carney through a gaping hole to score on 22 minutes.

The game was held up for a considerable period following Pomeroy's horror challenge on Gibson, but once play got back underway the Tigers scored almost immediately.

Luke Gale's precise kick to the left wing was gathered by Carney and he crossed for his 18th try of the season.

Michael Shenton was forced off during the second half with a shoulder injury

A nasty of clash of heads between Ben Roberts and Jordan Sigismeau resulted in the latter being helped off the pitch, but despite their numerical disadvantage, the Dragons bagged their fifth try in the final minute of the first half.

It came in fortuitous circumstances. Taia claimed Liam Finn's kick and his offload came off the knee of Escare, who gathered possession and raced downfield to score.

Escare kicked the conversion to give Catalans a 26-6 lead at the interval.

With Daryl Powell's half-time team talk ringing in their ears, Castleford scored within two minutes of the restart when a scintillating break from Carney resulted in an Oliver Holmes try.

However, the Dragons hit back through Gigot, who collected Carney's brilliant looping pass to dive over in the corner, with Bosc adding the extras.

Adam Milner latched onto Luke Gale's inch-perfect grubber to score but Catalans' response was almost immediate, Gigot intercepting Carney's pass to clinch his hat-trick.

Junior Moors used his strength to power over the whitewash before great hands from Julien Bousquet and Olivier Elima teed up Escare at the other end, while Milner bagged his second for Cas at the death.