Two of this season’s also-rans meet at the Stade Gilbert Brutus on Saturday evening as Catalans look to find an upturn in form against the team one place below them at the wrong end of the table, Castleford Tigers. (Kick-off 18:00 BST)
Castleford have nothing to play for in 10th and were humiliated 64-6 by Leeds last week, while the Catalans are in the same boat having gone through a tumultuous campaign that brought an end to the tenure of head coach Steve McNamara. Read on for our Catalans Dragons vs Castleford Tigers predictions.
Team News
The Dragons make just one change from last week’s near miss at Warrington with the unfortunate Tommy Makinson replaced by teenager Lenny Marc.
Makinson scored a first-half hat-trick in a thrilling opening to their game at the Halliwell Jones Stadium last Thursday night, but the injury he suffered scoring his acrobatic third saw him leave the field, and with it the Dragons lead also evaporated. I firmly believe if Makinson had stayed on then the Catalans would have won the game.
As for Castleford, they have confirmed this week that Ryan Carr will be the new head coach from next season. Carr is currently in the NRL where he is assistant coach for St George Illawarra Dragons.
Chris Chester remains in charge for the rest of this season, and he sees winger Andy Djeukessi return to their 21-man squad having been recalled early from a season-long loan at Workington Town.
From the matchday 17 who were crushed by Leeds, missing this week are Josh Simm, Sam Wood and Joe Stimson.
The home side are 1/6, the draw is 20/1 and the visitors are priced up at 9/2.
Handicap 3-way: Catalans -14 @ 20/21
I have to be honest, I don’t give Castleford a prayer in this game. The Tigers were absolutely abysmal in their derby with Leeds Rhinos last weekend, conceding an embarrassing 11 tries in front of their home fans to concede 64 points.
We had Leeds to win that game, but not by that margin. Catalans on the other hand were excellent for the first half away at Warrington, and led deservedly until Makinson’s injury from which they never recovered and the Wolves came home with a wet sail to sneak it at the end.
Having watched all 180 minutes of those two games it is impossible to find any crumb of comfort for Castleford fans this week.
Two sides with nothing to play for should be able to play with freedom, and that is certainly what we saw from the Dragons last weekend. Even without Makinson I expect to see another strong showing on home soil, and Castleford could be in for another tough day out.
I would expect some form of response to minimise some of last weekend’s damage, and am probably being a little bit too cautious in sticking on the handicap here.
Anytime tryscorer Matthieu Laguerre @ 5/4
It’s a flip of a coin for my try scorer bet this week. I sense Catalans may have a few different scorers and I really like young full-back Guillermo Aispuro-Bichet.
A great goal-kicker with a really sharp step close to the line, he is a good shout at 5/4.
But I’m going for Matthieu Laguerre to score – also at 5/4. He is a strong finisher and a vastly under-rated player in my opinion. Laguerre crossed at Warrington last week and I have him down to score again this weekend.