TOULOUSE OLYMPIQUE 44 HULL FC 30
PETER BIRD, Stade Ernest Wallon, Friday

TOULOUSE tore Hull FC to shreds in the first half – then withstood a brief fightback in a frantic second – to seal their tenth win of the season.

Hull, who remain level bottom, endured as bad a start as any they have had in a dreadful year, which in the end proved too much to come back from.

But plenty of credit must go to Toulouse who scored some exquisite tries, not least Luke Polselli’s on the end of a thrilling break.

That was their second try, after Henry O’Kane – an impressive performer in the back row – opened the scoring in the fifth minute from a well-timed grubber by Thomas Lacans.

Nine minutes later, Roméo Tropis broke well from his own 40-metre line, held off two tackles and provided the perfect offload to O’Kane, whose kick through was collected by Polselli to score for a third game in succession.

There was more French joy five minutes after that as three FC defenders couldn’t prevent prop James Roumanos pushing over from short range.

It was all Toulouse, who looked dangerous with every attack, and in the 25th minute O’Kane scored his second after another delightful Lacans grubber on the left side.

Hull laboured in the heat and their chances were rare – instead the hosts confirmed superiority with four minutes of the half remaining via a blistering Mathieu Jussaume break, finished off by Paul Ulberg in good support.

Having converted the first four tries, César Rougé pushed the conversion attempt wide, but made amends on the hooter with a penalty in front of the posts after Aidan Sezer saw yellow for a tackle off the ball.

Despite being without their captain, there was more urgency from the visitors in the opening minutes of the second half with fullback Logan Moy looking lively and combining well with Jake Arthur.

Toulouse stood firm until winger Lewis Martin dived into the left corner after good work from Lloyd Kemp and Arthur Romano out left, with returning Sezer kicking well for the first of a perfect five conversions in the second half.

Five minutes later, Sezer himself powered over close to the posts despite the frantic efforts of four Toulouse defenders to stop him.

Then a buoyant Hull caused more mayhem as Moy darted through to score their third in succession.

But their cause was not helped by a couple of cheap penalties which halted all momentum, with the second kicked by Rougé in front of the posts. Crucially, prop Harvie Hill was shown yellow for striking out at an opponent on the ground, which changed the aspect of the game.

Reduced to twelve, Hull couldn’t prevent Rougé from powering through the middle from ten metres to score a converted try under the posts which erased any doubt over the result.

There was still time for three more tries in the final ten minutes, two from the beaten visitors including a flash of magic from Sezer with a darting run from 20 metres out which bamboozled the defence.

Then sub Olly Ashall-Bott, making his return after more than a month on the sidelines, showed his trademark pace to dive over – although he suffered an apparent rib injury in the act of scoring.

Rougé kicked well close to the posts, his eighth goal of the match, although Hull concluded the scoring action with two minutes remaining as Martin ran onto a well-timed dink over the top from Arthur.

GAMESTAR: Thomas Lacans set up two tries off kicks and led his side well throughout alongside César Rougé.

GAMEBREAKER: César Rougé’s try with 14 minutes remaining eased the pressure.

HIGHLIGHT REEL: Olly Ashall-Bott starting and finishing the final Toulouse try – albeit at a cost.

ALBERT GOLDTHORPE POINTS
3 pts Thomas Lacans (Olympique)
2 pts Henry O’Kane (Olympique)
1 pt Aidan Sezer (Hull FC)

MATCHFACTS

OLYMPIQUE
25 Luke Polselli
5 Benjamin Laguerre
19 Roméo Tropis
12 Mathieu Jussaume
2 Paul Ulberg
6 Thomas Lacans
29 César Rougé
8 Lambert Belmas
9 Brendan Hands
10 James Roumanos
22 Henry O’Kane
41 Louis Grossemy
15 Joe Cator
Subs (all used)
1 Olly Ashall-Bott
13 Anthony Marion
30 Tiaki Chan
40 John Toleofoa
18th man (not used)
20 AJ Wallace
Also in 21-man squad
11 Maxime Stefani
27 Hugo Garrigues
28 Mathieu Pons

Tries: O’Kane (5, 19), Polselli (14), Roumanos (19), Ulberg (35), Rougé (67), Ashall-Bott (74)
Goals: Rougé 8/9

HULL FC
24 Logan Moy
2 Harvey Barron
3 Davy Litten
21 Arthur Romano
5 Lewis Martin
6 Jake Arthur
7 Aidan Sezer
8 Herman Ese’ese
9 Amir Bourouh
10 Harvie Hill
36 Lennon Clark
39 Ethan O’Neill
18 Ligi Sao
Subs (all used)
16 Sam Lisone
22 Connor Bailey
25 Matty Laidlaw
32 Lloyd Kemp
18th man (not used)
26 Hugo Salabio
Also in 21-man squad
19 Tom Briscoe
29 Will Hutchinson
35 Ben Johnson

Tries: Martin (51, 77), Sezer (57, 70), Moy (59)
Goals: Sezer 5/5
Sin bin: Sezer (40) – tackle off the ball, Hill (63) – fighting

SCORING SEQUENCE: 6–0, 12–0, 18–0, 24–0, 28–0, 30–0; 30–6, 30–12, 30–18, 32–18, 38–18, 38–24, 44–24, 44–30

Rugby League and League Express Men of the Match
Olympique: Thomas Lacans; Hull FC: Aidan Sezer

Penalty count: 7-4
Half-time: 30-0
Referee: Liam Rush
Attendance: 7,360