Toulouse Olympique too strong for Sheffield Eagles

SHEFFIELD EAGLES 12 TOULOUSE OLYMPIQUE 34
KEITH McGHIE, Steel City Stadium, Saturday

MATHIEU JUSSAUME celebrated his 100th appearance for Toulouse with a brace to help the French side claim their first win in Sheffield since 2018.

The French outfit had savoured success in subsequent years but when the Eagles were ‘on the road’ at Doncaster and Wakefield.

Reubenn Rennie also grabbed two of Olympique’s six tries in a game where they were forced to hold firm against a lively but currently injury-affected Eagles, who maybe lacked the killer instinct in the final quarter.

It completed a dismal double-header afternoon for the Steel City Stadium faithful, whose women were destroyed 104-0 by Leeds in the preceding game.

Thomas Lacans put in a magnificent tackle to prevent Ryan Miller touching down in the corner and opening the scoring for Sheffield.

Olympique capitalized through Paul Marcon breaking clear down the right and sending Jussuame sliding over by the posts.

Jake Shorrocks, who missed the recent narrow defeat at Doncaster through injury, landed the conversion en-route to slotting five goals.

Jussaume then immediately charged 60 metres through the middle and almost added a second score in as many minutes as the French side savoured most of the early attacking.

Rob Butler conceded a penalty and was then involved in a skirmish with Jack Bussey, for which he was sin-binned.

Debutant loanee AJ Wallace immediately capitalised on the extra space to crash over near the posts, with Cory Aston levelling things with the kick.

Despite the numerical disadvantage, Toulouse scored two quick-fire tries.

Jussaume successfully chased his own kick, benefiting from a favourable bounce to claim his fourth try of the season.

Then, still with Butler off the field, Reuben Rennie cut inside and ran diagonally across the whitewash to double Toulouse’s advantage from six to twelve.

An error from the otherwise outstanding Benjamin Laguerre almost let the Eagles respond but tenacious defence kept them at bay – Jack Walker, who later limped off with a knee injury, coming closest – before Anthony Marion dived over from dummy-half just before the break to help Olympique to a 24-6 lead.

Errors put Sheffield under early pressure after the restart and Sylvain Houles’ side didn’t need a second invitation to further increase their advantage, as Ellis Gillam rose to grab a last-tackle kick from the air and fall over the line.

Shorrocks appeared to have left his kicking boots in the changing rooms as, after four successful conversions, he unexpectedly missed the subsequent kick.

Eddie Battye ran an incisive line to blast through and give the Eagles a glimmer of hope, and when Shorrocks’ restart went directly into touch the home fans sensed a possible comeback.

Titus Gwaze was held up as Sheffield upped their work-rate and began to pin their opponents back.

A superb Aston 40/20 stepped up the pressure but Craig Lingard’s men lacked the accuracy in attack to further eat into the deficit and Olympique, aided by Lacans’ clever kicking, held out with Rennie, on the charge, clinching their fourth win in the last five games with his second try.

Alex Foster was also withdrawn with a groin problem to add to the woes of the Eagles, who have just one win to show for five tough early-season encounters.

GAMESTAR: Benjamin Laguarre made a couple of errors but was generally safe at the back and repeatedly ran strongly.

GAMEBREAKER: Sheffield’s inability to turn promising possession into points in the final quarter.

MATCHFACTS
EAGLES
26 Jack Walker
21 Ryan Millar
3 Kris Welham
23 Alex Foster
5 Matty Dawson-Jones
6 Cory Aston
7 Morgan Smith
16 Blake Broadbent
9 Corey Johnson
10 Tyler Dickinson
35 AJ Wallace
18 Jack Bussey
13 Titus Gwaze
Subs (all used)
8 Eddie Battye
14 Reiss Butterworth
24 Oliver Roberts
22 Masi Matongo

Tries: Wallace (23), Battye (50)
Goals: Aston 2/2

OLYMPIQUE
19 Benjamin Laguerre
5 Paul Marcon
28 Romeo Tropis
3 Reubenn Rennie
2 Paul Ulberg
25 Thomas Lacans
7 Jake Shorrocks
8 Lambert Belmas
13 Anthony Marion
17 Rob Butler
4 Mathieu Jussaume
11 Maxime Stefani
15 Joe Cator
Subs (all used)
14 Baptiste Rodriguez
10 James Roumanos
21 Ellis Gillam
16 Joe Bretherton