Eden’s treble helps Castleford to thrash Dragons
Greg Eden’s hat-trick and Luke Gale’s return from a four-month injury lay-off inspired Castleford to a 36-4 victory over jaded Challenge Cup winners Catalans Dragons.
Steve McNamara named 12 of his Wembley-winning squad for the French side’s return to action in the Super 8s a week after their historic cup success over Warrington.
But the Dragons faced a home team boosted by Man of Steel Gale’s comeback, having missed 15 matches with a fractured kneecap, as well Ben Roberts’ first outing since May 24 following hamstring and knee issues. England half-back Gale, on his 100th appearance for the club, claimed pass assists for two of Castleford’s first three tries as Daryl Powell’s hosts led 18-0 at the break.
“Galey has trained like he has never been away,” Powell said. “He is an experienced player, an international footballer. Having Galey back is going to be huge for us as he starts to bed in.”
He had a hand in two more after the break and kicked six goals from seven attempts in a win that all but secured a play-off semi-final for last season’s Grand Final runners-up.
Only an unlikely sequence of results over the last four Super 8s fixtures and a massive swing in points difference can deny Castleford a topfour finish.
Sporting Castleford fans provided the new cup kings with generous applause prior to kick-off.
And they had to wait 15 minutes to cheer the home team’s first try from captain Michael Shenton via Gale’s initial pass and full-back Peter Mata’utia’s smart inside ball.
Catalans, whose absentees included Lance Todd Trophy winner Tony Gigot, enjoyed their best spell of pressure before Gale’s looping pass was finished off by prolific winger Eden after 29 minutes.
Jake Trueman jinked his way over for try number three before half-time after Dragons lost Samisoni Langi, concussed by Oliver Holmes’ challenge that saw the second-rower placed on report by referee Greg Dolan.
Langi later returned but Cas eased towards the winning line courtesy of Eden’s second try after Gale and Shenton linked to provide the opening two minutes after the restart.
Gale missed from the tee for the first time and the Dragons gave themselves a modicum of hope when Kenny Edwards sent in Brayden Wiliame after 51 minutes.
However, the loss of giant forward Julian Bousquet to the sin bin for kicking out in the tackle after 57 minutes was a setback the Dragons did not need. They survived the one-man disadvantage without conceding further points only for try-scorer Wiliame to also see yellow for preventing a quick Castleford restart with 10 minutes left.
This time the 12 men could not withstand the pressure with Eden completing his latest treble eight minutes from time before Gale’s pass to Holmes ended a length-of-the-field move.
Castleford, chasing a top-two finish and subsequent home semi-final, are now back to within three points of Wigan, who stunned St Helens on Friday night.