JULIAN BOUSQUET became only the second player to reach 300 league appearances for Catalans Dragons in Friday’s 34-6 victory at Castleford Tigers.
The stalwart prop is fast approaching the two notable records held by former captain Rémi Casty, who played 337 games for the Dragons in total, 309 in the league.
Bousquet is now up to 325 appearances overall, and with the 35-year-old contracted for another season is well placed to take the outright record.
He’ll have to wait until next year to hit 300 Super League games, as fixtures in the old Qualifiers and the Million Pound Game – in which Bousquet helped Catalans earned survival at Leigh’s expense in 2017 – don’t officially count, leaving him eight short.
Bousquet is also currently eight shy of 350 career games, having earned 17 caps for France, and will hope to move closer to that mark by playing in a second World Cup this autumn.
The man in third place on the Dragons’ appearance list, current skipper Ben Garcia, will receive his home send-off this Saturday ahead of retirement.
Catalans host York at Stade Gilbert Brutus, then visit Wigan Warriors in the final round.