TOULOUSE OLYMPIQUE 28 BRADFORD BULLS 18
PETER BIRD, Stade Ernest Wallon, Saturday

TOULOUSE earned their ninth victory of an impressive season to leave fellow promoted side Bradford close to the prospect of collecting the wooden spoon.

Mathieu Jussaume, impressive all season in the back row, was the driving force for Olympique and scored the try that sealed it seven minutes from time.

Bradford, whose continued injury woes saw them hand a debut to academy back Harvey Ward off the bench, are now two points adrift at the bottom with two rounds remaining and a significantly inferior points difference to those above.

With this seventh straight defeat, the Bulls’ campaign is ending with a whimper – in contrast to Toulouse, who sit ninth and could yet usurp Catalans above them.

Sylvain Houles’ side started the more lively, forcing a much-depleted Bradford side back into their 30 metres for much of the opening ten minutes.

The pressure paid off in the twelfth minute with winger Paul Ulberg diving and stretching out to touch down in the right corner from a well-placed up-and-under by César Rougé, who just pulled the conversion attempt in his only miss of the night.

Five minutes later, a clean break from halfway from prop Lambert Belmas was clinically finished off under the posts by stand-in fullback Luke Polselli after great combination play from Roméo Tropis and Benjamin Laguerre.

The Bulls reacted well, with a blistering run by Andy Ackers on 25 minutes eventually nipped in the bud with the tryline close by.

More pressure came from the visitors in the following minutes with the French paying for slack defending.

Toulouse survived a penalty-try appeal on the half-hour but couldn’t prevent halfback Chris Atkin deservedly crossing over five minutes before the break from a short-range inside pass by Riley Dean. Luke Hooley added the extras.

From the restart the French responded well with a high ball from Rougé fumbled by the Bulls defence only to be picked up by big John Toleofoa and touched down under the posts for a 16-6 half-time lead.

It was a much more even start to the second half, but the visitors were offered a man advantage eight minutes in with Toulouse skipper Anthony Marion forced off for two minutes with a green card.

The French survived but this sparked the Bulls into action. They looked the more dangerous as Toulouse stuttered to just about keep the men from West Yorkshire at bay.

Finally, a moment of magic from experienced hooker Andy Ackers saw him dive over after a neat shimmy caught the home defence off-guard, and Hooley kicked well.

Bradford were buoyant, increasing in confidence as Toulouse battled to hold on to their slender four-point lead, not helped by bad discipline and suspect handling.

As tempers flared it was Olympique who sealed the result, very much against the run of play with seven minutes remaining as Jussaume waded in with another important four-pointer close to the posts after strong support play from Ulberg on the right side.

And the home side were in again with a team try left-to-right finished off by Tropis to seal a hard-earned victory.

Bulls sub Alfie Leake concluded play with a well-taken try as the hooter sounded and Hooley claimed a third kick.

GAMESTAR: Mathieu Jussaume dominated and inspired Toulouse to a tough victory.

GAMEBREAKER: Jussaume’s try close to the end to seal the points.

HIGHLIGHT REEL: Mathieu Jussaume’s try after build-up from Paul Ulberg.

ALBERT GOLDTHORPE POINTS
3 pts Mathieu Jussaume (Toulouse)
2 pts Andy Ackers (Bradford)
1 pt Joe Mellor (Bradford)

MATCHFACTS

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

Tries: Ulberg (12), Polselli (17), Toleafoa (38), Jussaume (73), Tropis (78)
Goals: Rougé 4/5

BULLS
1 Caleb Aekins
2 Jayden Okunbor
22 Luke Hooley
4 Waqa Blake
23 Connor Wynne
38 Riley Dean
32 Chris Atkin
8 Ryan Sutton
9 Andy Ackers
16 Ebon Scurr
19 Will Gardiner
25 Eliot Peposhi
13 Joe Mellor
Subs (all used)
27 Alfie Leake
28 Jamie Gill
30 Leon Ruan
36 Harvey Ward (D)
18th man (not used)
40 Harvey Duckworth
Also in 19-man squad
41 Riley Gelder

Tries: Atkin (35), Ackers (57), Leake (80)
Goals: Hooley 3/3

SCORING SEQUENCE: 4-0, 10-0, 10-6, 16-6; 16-12, 22-12, 28-12, 28-18

Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Olympique: Mathieu Jussaume; Bulls: Andy Ackers

Penalty count: 7-10
Half-time: 16-6
Referee: Matty Lynn
Attendance: 3,743