TOULOUSE OLYMPIQUE 16 ST HELENS 30
PETER BIRD, Stade Ernest Wallon, Friday

ST HELENS defied their ongoing injury crisis once more to cruise past a fairly lacklustre Toulouse outfit for their fifth straight win.

A much-depleted Saints side still looked far too good for the French, especially in a first half which saw the kids from Merseyside impress with their superior technique and ball handling and build a 28-point lead in as many minutes.

Harry Robertson at fullback combined well with seasoned halves Tristan Sailor and Jackson Hastings, Lewis Murphy scored two of the tries in their early blitz, and Jake Wingfield did well in the absence of both the club’s dedicated hookers.

This was one-way traffic from the start with the visitors opening their account in the third minute when big Tongan prop Agnatius Paasi crashed over from short range and Hastings made no mistake with the kick.

Toulouse offered little resistance and more tries quickly followed. The speedy winger Murphy racked up an eight-minute brace down the left with Hastings converting one of the two.

Saints carried on the rampage with loose-forward David Klemmer pouncing on a loose ball close to the right post in the 24th minute.

Hastings duly obliged with the boot, as he did with a penalty four minutes later.

Saints finished off a perfect half with left centre Deon Cross free to score close to the posts and effectively seal victory.

Toulouse started the second period the brighter, forcing a goalline drop-out with their first attack following good work from Benjamin Laguerre and Reubenn Rennie close to the left touchline.

Saints handled the attack well but the hosts seemed to find some much-needed confidence and looked more menacing, putting the Saints defence under more pressure to set the tone for the second half.

Toulouse enjoyed the lion’s share of possession though struggled to convert that dominance into points, Saints holding firm until the 64th minute when Laguerre picked up a perfect outside pass from Olly Ashall-Bott. Jake Shorrocks kicked well from the left.

The home team continued to press and they hit double figures as Luke Polselli dived over in the right corner from short range via a perfectly-timed Roméo Tropis outside pass.

Toulouse continued to look the more dangerous and claimed their third try with six minutes remaining with Tyler Dupree in space to touch down under the posts and Shorrocks converting.

While it was a game of two halves, St Helens had the game won and never looked in real danger of being caught, and Hastings ended the scoring with their only second-half points, a 30-metre penalty in the final minutes.

GAMESTAR: Tristan Sailor looked solid and ran the game.

GAMEBREAKER: Deon Cross’ try close to the interval sealed the points.

HIGHLIGHT REEL: The opening try by Lewis Murphy, who sprinted to the line with time to spare.

ALBERT GOLDTHORPE POINTS
3 pts Tristan Sailor (St Helens)
2 pts Jake Wingfield (St Helens)
1 pt Harry Robertson (St Helens)

MATCHFACTS

OLYMPIQUE
1 Olly Ashall-Bott
5 Benjamin Laguerre
19 Roméo Tropis
3 Reubenn Rennie
25 Luke Polselli
6 Thomas Lacans
7 Jake Shorrocks
8 Lambert Belmas
9 Brendan Hands
23 Tyler Dupree
12 Mathieu Jussaume
24 Pierre-Jean Lima
13 Anthony Marion
Subs (all used)
10 James Roumanos
15 Joe Cator
16 Joe Bretherton
17 Rob Butler
18th man (not used)
11 Ellis Gillam
Also in 21-man squad
20 AJ Wallace
27 Hugo Garrigues
29 César Rougé

Tries: Laguerre (64), Polselli (67), Dupree (71)
Goals: Shorrocks 2/3

SAINTS
3 Harry Robertson
24 Owen Dagnall
4 Mark Percival
5 Deon Cross
20 Lewis Murphy
6 Tristan Sailor
31 Jackson Hastings
15 George Delaney
18 Jake Wingfield
19 Agnatius Paasi
16 Matt Whitley
12 Shane Wright
13 David Klemmer
Subs (all used)
17 George Whitby
21 Noah Stephens
28 Jake Davies
29 Alfie Sinclair (D)
18th man (not used)
30 Tom Humphreys
Also in 21 man squad
– Billy Keeley
– Cole Marsh
– Chris Matagi

Tries: Paasi (5), Murphy (12, 20), Klemmer (24), Cross (28)
Goals: Hastings 5/7

SCORING SEQUENCE: 0–6, 0–10, 0–16, 0–22, 0–24, 0–28; 6–28, 10–28, 16–28, 16–30

Rugby League and League Express Men of the Match
Olympique: Benjamin Laguerre; Saints: Tristan Sailor

Penalty count: 7-3
Half-time: 0-28
Referee: Tom Grant
Attendance: 4,652