Casty honoured to be first French player in SL Dream Team
Catalan prop Remi Casty says he is honoured to have become the first Frenchman to earn a place in the Super League Dream Team.
Casty, 27, earned his place in the selection alongside half-back Scott Dureau, who was named as the stand-out scrum-half in Super League for the second successive season.
France international Casty started every single game for the Dragons in 2012, to help them to a 4th placed finish and set up a play-off date with Wigan on Friday.
He said: “I have worked really hard to achieve that goal and I’m very proud to be named in the Dream Team alongside Scott Dureau. It’s an honour to be the first French player to feature in the Super League Dream Team.
“I want to thank my team mates and the coaching staff for this individual award, I couldn’t be there without them. We work hard together to perform week after week and make the top four.
“I hope this nomination is just the cherry on the cake for me, and we can win a trophy to reward this collective effort.”
France becomes the sixth nation to have been represented in the Dream Team, following England, Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Tonga.
Of the 221 places in the 17 years of Dream Team, 145 have been taken up by English players, 45 by Australian and 18 by Kiwis.
Catalan boasted a representative in the team in each of their first three years as a Super League club – Justin Murphy (wing, 2006), Adam Mogg (centre, 2007) and Clint Greenshields (full-back, 2008).
Last season Steve Menzies was named in the back-row, together with Dureau at half-back, and they are once again represented twice this year.
Casty, who was named France Player of the Year in 2011, made his Dragons debut against Harlequins back in April 2006, but 2008 was his real breakthrough year, when he missed just one of the Dragons’ 27 Super League games, and he has been a virtual ever present since.
It is another achievement for the Dragons, who became the first French team to reach the Challenge Cup final back in 2007, and the first French team to reach the Super League play-offs in 2008.
