Toulouse Oympique staged a remarkable recovery after being 20-4 down at half-time to beat Wakefield Trinity 26-38 in the first game of the Magic Weekend at St James’ Park in Newcastle.
Trinity took an early 12-0 lead with tries by Liam Hood and Matty Ashurst, both converted by Max Jowitt.
Toulouse came back into the game when Joe Bretherton scored on 23 minutes, with Chris Hankinson unable to convert.
Wakefield went further into the lead with a penalty for offside before David Fifita stretched their lead to 16 points with another converted try.
But the crucial moment came just before the interval, when Fifita was sinbinned for lying on in the tackle.
While Fifita was off the field, Toulouse scored three tries from Lambert Belmas, Matty Russell and Nathan Peats to take a 22-20 lead against a shocked Trinity side.
And things went from bad to worse for them when Rob Butler was sinbinned for a dangerous tackle shortly after Fifita had returned to the field.
Toulouse then went further ahead with the award of a controversial try when Guy Armitage lost the ball near the Wakefield line and Latrell Schaumkel picked it up to touch down. Referee Robert Hicks ruled no try, but went to the video-referee James Child, who decided that Jacob Miller had stripped the ball and awarded the try with Hankinson kicking a magnificent touchline goal.
And they went twelve points ahead when Russell scored his second try from a scrum move, this time with no conversion.
With time running out, Wakefield got on the scoreboard a minute before the end when Kelepi Tanginoa touched down a Brad Walker kick to the line, with Jowitt’s conversion making the gap six points.
With six seconds left, Toulouse kicked off again and they threw the ball about on their own line, only for Armitage to intercept and touch down for the decisive score, with Hankinson scoring and the Toulouse players celebrating.
