Catalans Dragons vs Castleford Tigers Predictions: French side to win big in Perpignan

Castleford Tigers’ pursuit of an elusive first win of the Betfred Super League season continues with a daunting trip to the south of France on Saturday evening to take on last year’s beaten Grand Finalists Catalans Dragons (kick-off 17:30 GMT).

While the Catalans were notching up another win last week against Hull FC, Castleford were being thumped at home by Huddersfield. Of their four successive defeats to start the season, this one will have hurt the Tigers most, conceding nine tries and 50 points to their close rivals on home soil, and our Catalans Dragons vs Castleford Tigers predictions reflect that a trip to the south of France next up is the last thing they need.

Team news

Catalans are slightly depleted this week, with prop forward Chris Satae and the versatile Alrix Da Costa both suffering concussion in the win over Hull FC last week.

Influential hooker Michael McIlorum is suspended, leaving the Dragons light in that position, while Arthur Romano and Jayden Nikorima – who scored a try last week – are injured.

So a few new faces could get a chance, with reserves Guillermo Aispuro-Bichet and Valentin Fernandez named in the squad for the first time, while Bayley Sironen and Cesar Rouge both return.

Castleford’s light squad has been exposed over the first month of the campaign, with playmaker Danny Richardson missing a third game in a row this week after suffering concussion at Salford Red Devils.

Papua New Guinea international prop Sylvester Namo, having only made his debut last week, is out injured so George Hill comes in.

Winger Jason Qareqare is still unavailable, as are the suspended Liam Watts and injured Paul McShane. Elie El-Zakham also misses out this week.

Catalans Dragons to win by 21-25 points @ 11/2

Castleford will be desperate to get off the mark with a big performance and first win of the season, but there seems no chance of that happening this weekend. The Tigers haven't won here since 2017 and they won't win here this week either.

Even with their depleted pack and lack of options at hooker, Catalans are too well-coached by Steve McNamara to show any meaningful signs of weakness.

The trip abroad may do the Tigers good after a dreadful start to the year, but on the pitch it will be more of the same, so it is take your pick as to how many points you think the home side will score.

I'm hopeful for Castleford that they will not be annihilated, but even a big performance is likely to end in defeat and I'm looking at the same margin of victory (46-22) as when these two sides met here last May.

Arthur Mourgue anytime tryscorer @ 6/4

Both our Catalans and Castleford anytime tryscorer tips landed last week, with Arthur Mourgue returning at 6/4 despite being dropped to the Dragons’ bench, and Tigers winger Innes Senior still shining in that heavy defeat to Huddersfield, scoring all eight of their points at evens.

You could get 7/4 on another Senior try this week, with those odds largely down to the perceived lessening of opportunities in the south of France.

So the shrewd move would be to pick through the Catalans side in a likely romp, with as many as four Dragons players priced at odds-on to score.

Mourgue is available again at 6/4 and that seems like a decent shout to stick with, whether he stays on the bench or not. His odds imply a 40% chance of scoring, whereas he's scored in 50% of games so far. Dangerous at full-back or in the halves, Mourgue may even get a stint at hooker in the absence of Da Costa and McIlorum and is likely to be buzzing around the ruck in the final third with plenty of chance to add to his tally.

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