Toulouse Olympique have pressed the rest button on their Super League season and are ready to come out fighting in the second half of the competition.
So says club Chief Executive Cedric Garcia following the late 17-16 defeat at Huddersfield Giants where Toulouse had led for much of the game but tumbled to a Jack Cogger field-goal three minutes from the end.
“It’s another defeat but we’ve shown we are on another level now,” said Garcia.
“We are 150 per cent sure that we can stay in Super League.
“We’ve played every team and we now know what we are capable of.
“The squad is starting to look good; we have players coming back from injury, and we will go to the last second of the last game to make sure we stay up.
“I have great faith in our players and coaching staff and I am confident we can survive.
“The mood is good, we’ve just matched one of the best team in the competition on their home ground, of course we couldn’t finish it off, but we need to continue to play at this level and the wins will come.
“If we had been able to play at this level at the start of the season we wouldn’t be where we are in the league but for a million reasons it couldn’t happen.
“But now, this is a brand-new start for us and we need to start clocking up the wins.”
Toulouse’s two new signings Corey Norman and Daniel Alvaro have had an immediate positive impact on and off the field according to Garcia, who said: “Daniel had a fantastic first game against Wakefield and he was very clinical and professional for us at Huddersfield with a high tackle rate and no missed tackles.
“Corey had a good first game for us especially after not playing for six or seven months so we’re very happy with their contribution so far.
“Huddersfield are fourth in the table and Challenge Cup finalists, so that was a really good performance from the boys, if we had converted our third try, we would have won it but that’s football.
“Once again, it’s a learning curve and of course it’s disappointing to lose but we have reached another level and we are continuing to improve.”
In other news from Toulouse, 32-year-old centre Junior Vaivai has left the club under an “amicable agreement” after two and a half seasons with the Olympians.
Coach Sylvain Houles will have Tony Gigot available for selection against St Helens after the club captain was rested against Huddersfield because of a niggling injury.
Former Saints star Dominique Peyroux and Joseph Paulo are in with a chance of selection although it may be another couple of weeks before centre Guy Armitage returns.
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