Castleford 32 Catalan 6: Powell staying calm despite early season form

Tigers beat Bradford 36-18 in their opener and were full value for their emphatic victory against a Dragons outfit that could not cope with the power of Australian winger Justin Carney, who helped himself to a hat-trick of tries. The back-to-back successes have raised hopes of a play-off push for a side that have been in the lower reaches of Super League in recent campaigns, but Powell is keeping his feet on the ground.

“We’ve shown we’ve got a little bit of something about us,” he said. “Obviously defensively we’ve got to be happy with conceding six points against a team that have been outstanding over the last few years in Super League, and we’ve scored over 30 points in our first two games.

“There’s quite a few people who doubted we’d be able to score points after what we’ve recruited and what we’ve lost, and I think we’ve sort of answered a few of those questions.

“I’m pretty pleased with the overall effort but there’s still loads of improvement in us as well.

“We’re not going to fall in love with ourselves too much but there are some good signs there.”

Carney crossed twice in the first half and once more a minute from time as he tormented the Dragons’ defence, to the delight of his coach. “You are better having him on your side than the other side,” Powell said. “He’s certainly a handful.

“You want to give him as much space as you can and he got some space (against Catalan).

“But there were other times when he didn’t have much space and he made things happen, and that’s Justin Carney.

“He’s a difficult player to handle, no question about that.”

While Castleford celebrated a second successive victory, Catalan reflected on another defeat following their 36-34 loss at Hull on the opening weekend.

“It’s embarrassing the desire the players put on the field. Cas were too good for us,” said Dragons coach Laurent Frayssinous.

Castleford Tigers: Tansey, Dixon, Channing, Shenton, Carney, Sneyd, Finn, Lynch, Clark, Huby, Holmes, Hauraki, Millington. Substitutes: Milner, Mariano, Wheeldon, Fleming.

Catalan Dragons: Webb, Escare, Cardace, Pomeroy, Oldfield, Pryce, Dureau, Lima, Henderson, Bousquet, Taia, Whitehead, Mounis. Substitutes: Pelissier, Maria, Paea, Baitieri.

Referee: T Roby (RFL).