CATALANS DRAGONS 18 TOULOUSE OLYMPIQUE 60
RICKY WILBY, Stade Pierre Fabre, Castres, Saturday

OLLY ASHALL-BOTT ensured that Catalans suffered their first competitive defeat to Toulouse in a hot and humid Castres.

Anthony Marion became the record appearance holder for Toulouse as he made his 262nd club appearance, and that proved just the first notable achievement.

The Olympians, who were dominant from almost the first minute as the Catalans wilted in the heat, also marked their biggest winning margin in Super League (from a previous best of 22 points) and number of points scored.

For the latter, they beat the 38 scored against Wakefield in their only previous Magic Weekend game in 2022, so maintaining a 100 percent record in the event.

They’ve also matched their win tally from that first top-flight campaign with a fifth, with ten more matches still to play.

Toulouse started the brighter of the two sides and were rewarded for their early endeavour in the seventh minute. A high Thomas Lacans bomb was collected by Luke Polselli out of the grasp of Nick Cotric and the Toulouse centre raced around to touch down.

Jake Shorrocks added the first of nine conversions from ten Toulouse tries – and struck a tenth-minute penalty after a ball steal.

Catalans finally got on the board with their first attack, Kruise Leeming picking up and scooting away from 15 metres out having bumped away three would-be Toulouse defenders to score.

Four minutes later and Catalans were in front. A Zac Lipowicz break gifted the Dragons field position before a Toby Sexton kick to the right corner was taken by Cotric, who offloaded to the supporting Matthieu Laguerre for the try.

Sexton added both conversions, but that was as good as it would get for the Dragons.

A penalty and a six-again gifted Toulouse the opportunity to attack the Catalans line and a shift to the left saw Benjamin Laguerre kick inside for Brendan Hands to collect and touch down under the posts, the first of four tries in eleven minutes.

Great play by Ethan Quai-Ward, who knocked the ball that was sailing out on the full back into play, allowed Paul Ulberg to offload to the supporting Mathieu Jussaume.

Olympique were red hot, and next Ashall-Bott broke behind the ruck, drawing the fullback and offloading to the supporting Thomas Lacans.

Catalans were gasping for air and praying for half-time as Toulouse were dominating every area of the game. Hands added his second of the game before the break, scooting away from acting-half and scoring to the left of the posts despite three Catalans defenders for a 32-12 score at the break.

Toby Sexton narrowed that deficit four minutes into the second half as a solo effort saw him dummy to kick then run the ball before darting over to score and adding the conversion.

Normal service was resumed as Ashall-Bott danced his way to the tryline before reaching out to touch down.

Paul Ulberg added a further try short of the hour mark, a superb wide pass from Shorrocks sending the winger over in the corner.

Ulberg turned provider in the 64th minute, racing 60 metres before finding Ashall Bott who shrugged away a Catalans defender to score his eleventh try of the season.

Jussaume and Polselli added their second tries of the game with nine and five minutes remaining respectively to take the Olympians well beyond the half-century.

GAMESTAR: Olly Ashall-Bott was dazzling with the ball in hand and solid at the back as his performance laid the platform for the Toulouse win.

GAMEBREAKER: The four tries in eleven minutes before the break saw Toulouse run out into a 20-point lead which Catalans had no hope of clawing back.

HIGHLIGHT REEL: Brendan Hands’ first try saw a superb flowing move that ended with a smart in-field kick from Benjamin Laguerre for Hands to score.

ALBERT GOLDTHORPE POINTS
3 pts Olly Ashall-Bott (Toulouse)
2 pts Thomas Lacans (Toulouse)
1 pt Jake Shorrocks (Toulouse)

MATCHFACTS

DRAGONS
1 Charlie Staines
3 Nick Cotric
21 Matthieu Laguerre
4 Solomona Faataape
25 Lenny Marc
6 Toby Sexton
7 Lewis Dodd
16 Josh Allen
19 Kruise Leeming
17 Romain Navarrete
13 Ben Garcia
20 Zac Lipowicz
18 Harvey Wilson
Subs (all used)
8 Tevita Satae
10 Julian Bousquet
12 Ben Condon
30 Alexis Lis
18th man (not used)
26 Ugo Tison
Also in 21-man squad
27 Clément Martin
28 Léo Darrélatour
29 Giovanni Descalzi

Tries: Leeming (13), Laguerre (17), Sexton (44)
Goals: Sexton 3/3

OLYMPIQUE
1 Olly Ashall-Bott
5 Benjamin Laguerre
25 Luke Polselli
39 Ethan Quai-Ward
2 Paul Ulberg
6 Thomas Lacans
7 Jake Shorrocks
10 James Roumanos
9 Brendan Hands
8 Lambert Belmas
22 Henry O’Kane
12 Mathieu Jussaume
15 Joe Cator
Subs (all used)
13 Anthony Marion
17 Rob Butler
30 Tiaki Chan
40 John Toleafoa
18th man (not used)
11 Maxime Stefani
Also in 21-man-squad
19 Roméo Tropis
20 AJ Wallace
29 César Rougé

Tries: Polselli (7, 75), Hands (27, 38), Jussaume (30, 71), Lacans (33), Ashall-Bott (54, 64), Ulberg (58)
Goals: Shorrocks 10/11

SCORING SEQUENCE: 0-6, 0-8, 6-8, 12-8, 12-14, 12-20, 12-26, 12-32; 18-32, 18-38, 18-42, 18-48, 18-54, 18-60

Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Dragons: Toby Sexton; Olympique: Olly Ashall-Bott

Penalty count: 4-7
Half-time: 12-32
Referee: Liam Rush