Castleford Tigers vs Catalans Dragons Prediction: 7/4 Tomkins the X-Factor for recovering Dragons

Catalans Dragons may feel their season is finally up and running after two encouraging wins, and the French team head to the Mend-A-Hose Jungle on Saturday in the Betfred Super League to take on a Castleford Tigers side who have finally found their first win of the campaign (kick-off 15:00 GMT).

The Tigers edged past crisis-hit Salford Red Devils last time out to pick up their first two points, while after a sluggish start in Perpignan the Dragons have found some form with wins over Leeds Rhinos and Featherstone Rovers in the league and Betfred Challenge Cup. Check out my Castleford Tigers vs Catalans Dragons predictions, along with Betfred's match odds and the latest team news.

Castleford Tigers vs Catalans Dragons Odds

The Tigers might have got over the line against Salford two weeks ago, but Betfred's traders clearly see the Dragons as an altogether different prospect. They've priced up Cas at 2/1 for the win in 80 minutes at an implied probability 0f 33.3%.

The Dragons are 2/5 to record a ninth win in their last 12 meetings with Cas, while the draw is 20/1. There have been three tied games already in the Betfred Super League season in 24 matches at a 12.5% clip, making the 4.8% implied probability of another one generous.

Team News

It has been a busy week at Castleford with a couple of key signings but an injury to talented youngster Fletcher Rooney that is likely to keep their in-form star out for four months. Rooney has suffered a quad injury in training and won't return until the summer.

The Tigers, though, have moved to strengthen their pack this week, bringing in Grand Final-winning prop Brad Singleton from Salford and Ramon Silva from Barrow Raiders. Singleton has been released by the Red Devils for a fee and joins Cas until the end of the 2026 season, while 'Razor' Silva comes in from the Raiders having been with both Wigan Warriors and London Broncos. Singleton is straight into the squad, but Silva is not included.

Rugby League Odds

Catalans sold full-back Arthur Mourgue to Hull KR this week and are without winger Tommy Makinson, who missed last weekend and is again out this time.

Sam Tomkins is back fit and firing after the injury that derailed his start to the season. Tariq Sims misses the trip but Franck Maria and Clement Martin are back in the squad.

Handicap 2-way: Catalans -6.5 @ 5/6

It seems strange to say but both sides will fancy this. Catalans feel like they have turned a corner after a really difficult start to the season that brought a few injuries and three successive Super League defeats.

Key to that has been the return of Tomkins, and despite the absence of Makinson this feels like a more stable Dragons squad.

Cas, on the other hand, appear to be fighting different fires every week and boss Danny McGuire will hope his squad gets a lift from the players he has brought in this week.

The absence of young livewire Rooney is a big blow and takes a bit of sting out of this Tigers attack. Cas won this fixture at home last season 24-18 but I am fancying the away team to come away with victory by a similar score.

Looking at the handicap I'm going to go for around the eight-point mark for Steve McNamara's men.

Sam Tomkins anytime tryscorer @ 7/4

I had a long chat with Tomkins this week from his home in Perpignan and he is loving life, and loving playing rugby, as much as ever. I would attribute much of the Dragons' poor start this season to the absence through injury of their talisman, and with Tomkins back firing they already look like a different beast.

Tomkins scored two as he returned in the cup win over Featherstone, and there will be even more responsibility on his shoulders after the departure of Mourgue.

This feels like a nice game for Tomkins to be a threat against a leaky defence, and I would fancy him to cross during the 80 minutes.

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