Super League: Castleford Tigers 41-0 Catalans Dragons

Paul McShane has scored four tries in nine appearances this season

Castleford made easy work of Super League's bottom side Catalans Dragons.

The hosts took complete control in the opening 40 minutes through unanswered tries from Paul McShane, Michael Shenton and Oliver Holmes.

McShane went over for his second after the restart before James Clare touched down in a dominant Tigers display.

Wardle scored his first try for the club and Holmes finished the scoring with his second of the day as Catalans failed to get on the scoresheet.

To their credit the French side kept battling until the end but they were completely outclassed and Mickael Simon's slip when he had just one man to beat late on summed up their day.

It took 15 minutes for the Tigers to score their first try but it was a procession thereafter, as Daryl Powell's team showed the kind of form that saw them win the League Leader's Shield last season.

They are now just four points behind leaders Saints, who lost at Wakefield on Sunday, with two games in hand.

They visit second-placed Wigan on Friday, while Catalans will look to put their league worries behind them when they travel to third-tier York City Knights in the Challenge Cup on Sunday.

Castleford coach Daryl Powell:

"We've had to really work hard but we're in a good position now.

"I think everybody wrote us off after that first game against St Helens but we've been tough to beat and have lost one game since then, in a bit of a swimfest against Warrington.

"So we've had tough conditions and we've had to adapt and scrap for points.

"But we're starting to see light at the end of the tunnel of what this team can become. Every year a team is a little bit different, and the signs are really positive for us at the moment."

Catalans coach Steve McNamara:

"That performance was unacceptable.

"I thought we made big strides the last couple of weeks but we took a huge step backwards today.

"We conceded five tries off kicks which tells you in the little effort areas of the game it wasn't there for us.

"It's unacceptable for us to play like that at any stage, never mind after the way we'd improved over the last couple of weeks."

Castleford: Trueman, Minikin, Webster, Shenton, Clare, Roberts, Gale, Watts, McShane, Massey, Wardle, Holmes, Foster.

Replacements: Millington, McMeeken, Milner, Cook.

Catalans Dragons: Tierney, Broughton, Thornley, Mead, Yaha, Gigot, Langi, Simon, McIlorum, Moa, Jullien, Garcia, Baitieri.

Replacements: Casty, Bousquet, Margalet, Da Costa.

Referee: Scott Mikalauskas (RFL)