Toulouse 14-20 Castleford: Mahe Fonua scores match winner for Tigers

Castleford Tigers sizzled in the sunshine of Toulouse with a hard-fought 20-14 victory over Betfred Super League’s battling bottom club.

Coach Lee Radford’s side dealt with heatwave conditions and an injury-hit squad to bring home the points.

Radford could only name an initial 20-man squad for this fixture but the patched-up Tigers fought tooth and nail in the blistering sunshine of the south of France.

The Tigers more than coped with the loss of injured scrum-half Gareth O’Brien with a brave and defiant performance against Super League’s strugglers.

A dynamic handling and kicking display by Danny Richardson in his first full game back at number seven following a long-term neck injury inspired the Tigers from start to finish.

The two sides slugged it out in heatwave conditions, going set for set, until Toulouse conceded a penalty on halfway and the Tigers turned up the temperature.

First, scrum-half Richardson was held up over the line, then Castleford forced a goal-line drop-out but they could not break the French resistance.

It took until the 25th minute of the game before the tense deadlock was broken when Toulouse earned two set restarts and a penalty to put pressure on the Castleford line where full-back Olly Ashall-Bott glided through some tiring defence. Chris Hankinson’s conversion put Toulouse 6-0 ahead.

But Castleford hit back when Ashall-Bott lost the ball in midfield and substitute Suaia Matagi forced his way over the line seven minutes from half-time, Richardson’s conversion levelling the scores.

With the heat and humidity rising, it was the side that kept their cool that would come out on top in the second half and Matty Russell was the coolest on the pitch four minutes after the interval when he latched