Two form teams, both on the back of short winning runs, met in the final game of round eighteen as the Catalans Dragons made the journey to West Yorkshire to take on an increasingly confident Castleford Tigers in the hope of picking up the two points to go ahead of St Helens and prevent their continued fall towards the bottom end of the top six.

A win for Castleford would lift them within a point of the Huddersfield Giants and would stretch their win streak to three consecutive games after their stunning win over Saints a couple of weeks ago, but the bookies favoured a Dragons win, handicapping them by six points on the coupon and buoyed by the return of Tom Johnstone and Jordan Abdull.

Liam Horne created a stunning start for the Tigers when he chased a kick into goal, Arthur Mourgue leaving the ball to go dead in goal, but the Castleford hooker never gave it up and got his hand on it to groundunder the full backs nose, Mourgue looking like the big lads had stolen his chips. Rowan Milnes added the conversion for a 6-0 lead.

A length of the field try, Innes Senior breaking down the wing off a Tex Hoy pass before finding Jacob Miller in support twenty from the line to go over for the second of the afternoon. Milnes added the conversion for a twelve-point lead.

Tariq Sims spilled the ball on the Tigers ten as the Dragons bombed their best chance to open their account on twenty-three. Within seconds the Tigers were in again with Horne taking a Cain Robb pass, twenty out, and dragging his tackler over the line with him before grounding. Milnes added a third, the Tigers running away with it.

There was a chink of light on an otherwise dark afternoon for the Dragons when Tom Johnstone jumped to take a Jordan Abdull kick to the corner and went over the top of Jason Qareqare to score in the corner. Arthur Mourge added the touchline conversion to reduce the arrears to twelve with seven minutes of the half remaining.

The Dragons ended the game on the attack but couldn’t break a determined Tigers defence, the home side with a twelve-point lead at the interval.

It was the Dragons who started the second half the brighter, no doubt after loud words of wisdom from coach McNamara. On forty-four some great strength from Matt Ikuvalu allowed the centre to ground in the left corner before being pushed dead in goal. Mourgue added the touchline conversion, the home lead now down to just six points and looking increasingly fragile.

A charged down drop goal attempt from Milnes on sixty-three became a Catalans penalty and a set later Mourgue dropped his shoulder and coasted through the Tigers defence down the left side to dive over the line for the third Dragons try of the game. Mourgue was on target again from the touchline to level the scores at 18-18 with eleven minutes remaining.

Davies spilled a swirling high kick on seventy-one and on the third play Tex Hoy took the pass and ran the diagonal to score under the sticks. Milnes added the extras from in front of the sticks for 24-18, the Dragons needing to come from behind again.

George Lawler was tackled just short of the line on seventy-five as the Tigers sought to push home their advantage. On seventy-eight Mourgue was trapped in his own in-goal area, the game was in the bag for the Tigers.

This was a battling win for the Castleford Tigers, built on a strong defence, which takes them to a three-game winning run and closer to the outside chance of a top six finish should the sides ahead of them slip up. The Dragons are slipping back into the low play-off spots, and should they continue their indifferent form, then there is a chance that Sam Tomkins will be coming out of retirement to see them drop out of the top six.

Castleford Tigers: Hoy (T), Qareqare, Hall, Mellor, Senior, Milnes (4/4 G), Miller (T), Griffin, Horne (2T), Mustapha, Lawler, El-Zakhem, Westerman. Subs: Watts, Nao, Robb, Johnson. 18th Man: Hall. 

Catalans Dragons: Mourgue (T, 3/3 G), Davies, Romano, Ikuvalu (T), Johnstone (T), Rougé, Abdull, Navarrete, McIlorum, Bousquet, Sims, Séguier, Garcia.  Subs: Da Costa, Aispuro-Bichet, Satae, Dezaria. 18th Man: Laguerre.

Half-Time: 18-6.

Full-Time: 24-18.

Score Progression: 4-0, 6-0, 10-0, 12-0, 16-0, 18-0, 18-4, 18-6 : HT: 18-10, 18-12, 18-16, 18-18, 22-18, 24-18 :FT.

Lead Exchanges: Castleford – Square - Castleford.

Referee: Marcus Griffiths.