TOULOUSE OLYMPIQUE 8 YORK KNIGHTS 16
PETER BIRD, Stade des Minimes, Friday
YORK maintained their grip at the top of the Championship with a stunning victory over a shellshocked Toulouse outfit who gave it everything but fell short in the last quarter of this tense affair.
Toulouse started the better thanks to handling errors from the visitors. York took their time adjusting to the slippery conditions with Toulouse breaking the deadlock in the 11th minute when Jake Shorrocks elected to kick a penalty ten metres out in front of the posts.
The hosts looked the more confident as York continued their errors. With 15 minutes gone, Olympique took advantage of slack marking on the right side with the powerful Lambert Belmas breaking through 35 metres out. Aussie hooker Brendan Hands took the precision pass with Thomas Lacans well placed ten metres out to burst through to touch down under the posts.
Shorrocks made the straightforward two-pointer, but that would be his side’s final scoring as Toulouse started their own series of mistakes and both teams cancelled each other out.
The visitors grew in confidence and opened their account on the half hour with their first meaningful attack to date as Liam Harris passed left to centre Oli Field, well placed to supply the perfect ball out to left winger Scott Galeano to dive in the corner unopposed.
Harris just missed the conversion, but York looked the stronger as half-time approached and piled on the pressure. They penned Toulouse in their own 20 metres but the hosts stood firm to the interval with their 8-4 lead.
Tempers frayed in a frantic start to the second period, and a high ball on the last by Harris was misread by Toulouse centre Paul Marcon and picked up cleanly by Galeano to touch down close to the posts. Harris converted to edge the Knights in front.
Two minutes later, the visitors added to the Toulouse pain as an excellent crossfield move was finished off by Field from a well-weighted pass by Jesse Dee and Harris again kicked well.
York had a great chance to seal the points on 56 minutes but Galeano couldn’t keep hold of a looping Ata Hingaro pass two metres from the right corner.
It was all York with few chances from Toulouse, although a big one was squandered on the hour as Belmas couldn’t hang on to the ball inches from the line.
With the visitors in the driving seat, the French were unable to control the sheer power of the York pack, while Harris kicked majestically and lead by example.
York closed the game down with Toulouse unable to penetrate, yellow cards to Bailey Antrobus and Toa Mata’afa coming too late to be of much help as the defence remained solid enough to claim the two points and establish a four-point gap at the top of the table.
GAMESTAR: Liam Harris led from the front with excellent game management.
GAMEBREAKER: Oli Field finishing off the play of the game to leave Toulouse with too much to do.
MATCHFACTS
OLYMPIQUE
1 Olly Ashall-Bott
2 Paul Ulberg
3 Reubenn Rennie
5 Paul Marcon
19 Benjamin Laguerre
25 Thomas Lacans
7 Jake Shorrocks
8 Lambert Belmas
35 Brendan Hands
17 Rob Butler
4 Mathieu Jussaume
11 Maxime Stefani
13 Anthony Marion
Subs (all used)
15 Joe Cator
10 James Roumanos
16 Joe Bretherton
28 AJ Wallace
Tries: Lacans (15)
Goals: Shorrocks 2/2
KNIGHTS
36 Toa Mata’afa
34 Ben Jones-Bishop
3 Kieran Buchanan
20 Oli Field
35 Scott Galeano
6 Ata Hingaro
7 Liam Harris
8 Jack Martin
9 Paul McShane
25 Bailey Antrobus
11 Jesse Dee
12 Connor Bailey
13 Jordan Thompson
Subs (all used)
14 Taylor Pemberton
10 Brendan Santi
21 Conor Fitzsimmons
33 Mitch Clark
Tries: Galeano (29, 47), Field (50)
Goals: Harris 2/3
Sin bin: Antrobus (76) – high tackle, Mata’afa (80) – professional foul
SCORING SEQUENCE: 2–0, 8-0, 8–4; 8–10, 8–16
Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Olympique: Thomas Lacans; Knights: Liam Harris
Penalty count: 5-3
Half-time: 8-4
Referee: James Vella
Attendance: 2,853