Castleford Tigers: Gale is left feeling so sweet for play-offs

MAN OF STEEL Luke Gale's comeback from injury has given Castleford Tigers a huge boost going into the business end of the season and he reckons he will build on a solid return.

Gale set up four of Tigers’ six tries in last weekend’s 36-4 win over Catalans Dragons and kicked six goals from seven attempts.

It was his first rugby, at any level, since suffering a fractured kneecap in a home win over Wakefield Trinity on April 27. Now Gale is looking to build his form and fitness over Tigers’ final four games before the Betfred Super League semi-finals.

“It has been a long four months,” admitted the England scrum-half, whose comeback match was his 100th appearance for Tigers.

Castleford celebrate Michael Shenton's try against Catalans.

“It has felt like probably a year, but it is good to be back.

“I am just going to keep turning up, keep training.

“I felt all right, I am happy – I’ll take it and move on.”

Despite the long lay-off, Gale felt his timing of passes was good, he was happy to be involved in the build-up to so many tries and there were no problems with his damaged knee.

Castleford's Greg Eden evades the Catalans' defence to go on and score a try.

“I felt sweet, I felt like I got straight back in,” he added.

“A few assists, I am happy and the knee is sweet.

“I didn’t feel the knee whatsoever, I probably felt the lungs more than the knee.”

Tigers’ big win over the new Ladbrokes Challenge Cup holders lifted them a place to third in the Super-8s table.

Gale said: “It was a good (team) performance.

“We were a bit scratchy with the ball, we put a bit of ball down, but they come after you in defence, they are aggressive.

“I thought the highlight for us was probably our defence.

“I thought our attitude was great and overall it was probably a seven out of 10 .

“We will take that and we’ll move on to the next game.”