The nightmare start to life in Super League could be over for Toulouse Olympique after they rocked the competition with a sensational 22-20 victory over champions St Helens.
A late try by winger Paul Marcon secured the first points of the season for the battling bottom side and coach Sylvain Houles is hoping for better days ahead after recent tough times on and off the pitch.
He told League Express: “People outside this club might not know how hard it has been to reach this stage, with everything that has happened in the last few months. Then to go and win your first game against the triple-champions, it could only be us.”
Toulouse were torpedoed by the sudden pre-season loss of captain Johnathon Ford and fullback Mark Kheirallah (whose contract was terminated by the club last week due to alleged gross misconduct) because of Covid issues and they have the smallest squad in Super League after Houles admitted it has been difficult to find new recruits.
Five losses from five only added to the club’s woes; but Saturday’s toppling of the league-leaders could be a huge turning point for the club.
Houles is now keen to put his troubles behind him.
“For us, we have moved on now and we don’t need to speak about it (Ford and Kheirallah’s departure) any more.
“We don’t need to look at the past, we are focused on the future.
“St Helens are the best Rugby League team in Europe but the boys have been working so hard for weeks and you could feel it coming.
“We could sense a belief. We know exactly what is needed in this competition and we pulled it out of the bag today.
“It is efforts like that that we have been talking about for the last few weeks.”
Houles admits the result against St Helens had been unexpected but he said this Super League campaign is proving to be the most unpredictable of all.
He added, “Saints and Catalans are the two best teams, but Salford have just beaten Leeds and Wakefield have beaten Warrington. We simply can’t worry about anyone else; we just need to concentrate on each game.
“We have the ultimate respect for St Helens; they have been an inspiration for us because a couple of years ago I asked my defensive coach to analyse every Saints game to see how they defend, because they are so good.
“We have a week off now (Toulouse are not taking part in the Challenge Cup) and it is the perfect time to analyse our first six games. We set a few goals before the season started and we are not quite there yet, but winning this game will be huge for us mentally and physically.
“It is up to us now; it is in our hands to stay in Super League.”
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