He came, he saw but Dwain Chambers hardly conquered rugby league at his first attempt.

The controversial athlete finally got to experience his first taste of rugby but left a 3,244 crowd under-whelmed by his performance for Castleford in a specially-arranged reserve friendly against York.

The Super League club won the match 30-16 against their National League Two visitors but Chambers did not receive a meaningful pass and made only a token contribution to the event, which brought to an anti-climactic end his month, unpaid trial at the club.

He played for a total of 39 minutes, divided into four separate spells and made five carries - all of them from scrums - and two tackles while, on the downside, came up with three missed tackles and two knock-ons and was also forced to carry the ball over his own line to concede a drop-out.

His final appearance - as full-back after being switched from the wing - ended in agony as he hurt his right shoulder attempting unsuccessfully to prevent forward Mark Applegarth scoring York's third try, although he tried to put on a brave face.

"It was great fun, although I'll never play full-back again," he told the crowd. "I'll definitely be back and I appreciate people coming down to support me."

Each appearance was greeted with cheers from the curious onlookers but, by the end, the applause was more in sympathy than encouragement, with Chambers clearly lacking the stamina and fitness to play for any length of time.

Yet the 30-year-old Chambers lacked nothing in bravery. Up to a month ago the London sprinter was blissfully ignorant of the rules and had to be told how many players made up a team.

He received tips on wing play from Widnes and Wigan legend Martin Offiah, who was among the crowd to witness his debut, and made all the right noises, even going as far as to suggest he is prepared to finally abandon his Olympic dream to pursue a career in rugby league.

But he quickly discovered that running with his arms pumping for 10 seconds in spikes was a world away from going the full distance in rugby boots with a rugby ball tucked under his armpit.

Terry Matterson, head coach of Super League's basement club, caught an early flight back from France in order to be there for kick-off and assess the potential of the disgraced sprinter.

On this evidence, he is unlikely to pursue his interest, although by taking to the field, Chambers surpassed the expectations of many cynical observers and his presence helped generate an attendance more than 10 times the normal turn-out for a reserve game.

Indeed, the kick-off had to be delayed by 15 minutes as the club hurriedly opened up four extra turnstiles to cope with the late arrivals.

The fans also had to wait another 10 minutes for Chambers to make his entrance after assistant coach Colin Maskill chose to start him off on the bench.

He immediately went onto the right wing and had the satisfaction of beating a man with his first touch.

Chambers went inside to take the ball at first receiver from a scrum deep 20 metres from his own line and, after evading York centre Steve Grundy, was promptly dumped on his backside.

He had one further run, again from a set-piece scrum, and was involved in an unsuccessful kick-chase before returning, looking distinctly bedraggled, to the safety of the bench.

His second spell, a five-minute stint just before half-time, was more eventful as the athlete made his first tackles of his career, including bundling his opposite number Dale Ferris into touch.

The half-time whistle could not come soon enough for the flagging Chambers, who re-entered the action 12 minutes into the second half and had a third carry from a scrum.

His third spell lasted 18 minutes but it was similarly unspectacular while his final stint was curtailed by injury.

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