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Cougars Fall To France Defeat


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Toulouse Olympique 40-4 Keighley Cougars Match Report by Joshua Chapman (@JRCSport)

KEIGHLEY Cougars got their Super Eights campaign underway with a defeat at League One leaders Toulouse Olympique.

Six weeks removed from an 84-6 regular season humiliation on the same ground, the Cougars put in a more resilient defensive display in France but couldn’t prevent a sixth defeat of the season.

Despite the defeat, Assistant Coach Adam Mitchell insisted there were plenty of positives with a number of senior players missing the trip through work commitments and injury.

Mitchell said: “There were massive positives to take with some of our senior players unavailable and only three players over the age of 30 in the seventeen.

“We competed for large parts and maybe if we were a little bit more patient in what we did, we would off got more rewards for our play.

“We kept them at forty points, which is the lowest amount they’ve scored at home in the league all year, but at the same time is too many for our liking but we worked real hard in the humidity to keep them at fourteen points in the second half.

“We kept the scoreless in the final 19 minutes of the game which is good because not many teams will restrict them in France in the humidity and also it proves that we’re a fit outfit and we can defend when we are switched on.

“It’s a massive step in the right direction leading into the visit of Hunslet on Sunday and we are looking for a massive performance against them, especially as we’ve spoke to the lads about defending from minute one.

“The youngsters in our squad massively impressed and most certainly put their hands up for spots in the side for the remainder of the Super Eights phase and beyond.”

The runaway leaders broke the deadlock in the eighth minute when loose forward Anthony Marion went over from close range.

They extended their lead six minutes later when influential half-back Danny Hulme found a way through the Cougars line before offloading to centre Bastien Ader to cross the line.

The lead went to 18 points when prop Bastien Canet – who scored two tries in June’s meetings between the sides – crashed over.

The Cougars did get on the scoreboard after 31 minutes, as Charlie Martin crossed to score his 12th try of the season after good work on the Toulouse line to get the centre over.

The French outfit did have the finally say of the half though, first with a Gregory White try after great work by second-rower Rhys Curran to get himself into the position for an assist.

Then as the hooter sounded for half-time, the Cougars were penalised and Moroccan full-back Mark Kheirallah converted to add another two points to the scoreboard.

The second half proved a much quieter affair as the home side recorded another three tries for the afternoon as they kept the Cougars scoreless.

Winger Tony Maurel registered the halves first try in the 49th minute as he dived over in the corner from close range.

Maurel would turn provider for the Olympians’ sixth try of the evening as he broke down the right wing and got the offload away to Hulme, who went over to open up a 30 point margin between the sides.

The game’s final score come 19 minutes from time as Curran, who had assisted White’s try in the first half, got a four pointer for himself – managing to touch down from close range to wrap up a 14th victory of the year.



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