Catalans Dragons coach Laurent Frayssinous has paid tribute to the returning Scott Dureau after the former Newcastle halfback inspired his side to a 13-12 Super League victory over Castleford.

Dureau made his first Super League appearance in almost 12 months but has been largely out of action for almost two years after a bad run of ill-health.

The 28-year-old kicked a last-gasp field goal in an all-round superb performance as the Dragons edged a victory.

“Scotty has had a tough last two years, he has come back and said to me that he wants to repay the club,” Frayssinous said.

“He has shown how tough he is as a person, he has come back from a lot of adversity and shown character to perform like that.

“He can still be better, but that was very pleasing from him.”

Castleford drew first blood through Justin Carney’s early try but the Dragons seized the initiative through second-half tries from Morgan Escare and Elliott Whitehead.

But Jordan Tansey’s try drew the Tigers level at 12-12 with seven minutes to go and set up a grandstand finish before Dureau settled matters with a drop-goal that went over off the post.

“The players dug really deep today to come back and get the two points. In the context, everything was against us today, so it is worth so much more than two points to us,” Frayssinous added.

Castleford have now lost both of their opening Super League matches by a combined total of three points – having squandered a 22-6 lead against Wakefield in a 24-22 defeat last weekend.

And this latest setback was tough to take for Tigers coach Daryl Powell.

“I thought we deserved something out of the game to be honest,” he said.

“In the second half, we couldn’t quite get our game together, which was disappointing. We weren’t the smartest team of footballers out there today as a team but we certainly were one of the most committed.”

Powell felt his side should have taken advantage when Catalans were reduced to 11 men following a fracas that saw Olivier Elima and Eloi Pelissier and Castleford centre Jake Webster sent to the sin bin.

The Tigers were winning 6-0 before the incident but Escare’s converted try and a penalty from Dureau put the Dragons ahead before the yellow-carded trio returned to action.

“I thought we were great in lots of ways but just lost our composure at the key moment within the game, especially when Catalans were down to 11 men,” Powell added.

“We should have come out of that in front and as it happened, we came out of that two points behind.”