First Half
Saints took an early fourth minute lead in France. The visitors forced an error in midfield and used up a few tackles before ten metres out and under the Toulouse sticks, Jackson Hastings fired a pass to Agnatius Paasi who broke through a tackle and crashed over. Hastings added the conversion, 0-6 we led.
Soon after, Saints had a second four-pointer. Hastings found Deon Cross with a cut-out pass and he found Lewis Murphy who did well to fend off a Toulouse defender and score in the corner. Hastings couldn’t convert from the touchline, 0-10.
The visitors tried adding more points towards the midway point of the first half, this time Hastings tried a chip towards the right corner but it was too strong and gave the hosts a seven-tackle restart.
With our next attack, the Red V did have a third try. Tristan Sailor collected the ball from Hastings and broke down the Saints left edge, he offloaded to Murphy who grabbed the low pass and scored his second try. Hastings added the conversion, 0-16.
Three minutes later, we had a fourth try. Hastings’ high kick under the sticks was claimed by Sailor who did well to get an offload away on the floor to David Klemmer who wasn’t going to be stopped from close range. Hastings converted, 0-22.
The Red V thought a fifth try had followed. The visitors moved the ball out right and Owen Dagnall crossed in the corner but the referee ruled forward pass. Just before the half-hour mark the visitors did grab another try points though, courtesy of Hastings’ boot after we were awarded a penalty, 0-24.
On the half-hour mark, the visitors had a fifth try. Jake Wingfield picked the ball up from dummy half and went down his short side on the left, finding Deon Cross who went over from close range. Hastings missed the kick, 0-28.
After receiving a penalty for offside from a short kick off, Toulouse finally had some good field position but an error from Joe Cator inside Saints’ twenty gifted the Red V possession back.
With less than two minutes to go to the break, Saints almost had another try. The visitors shifted the ball through the hands from left to right, Sailor tried finding Dagnall but he couldn’t quite reel the ball in and it went to ground.
No further points followed in the remaining time, with Saints leading 0-28 at the break after a dominant opening forty minutes!
Second Half
Saints defence held firm on a couple of occasions early on in the second half, as Toulouse looked for their first points of the game. The Red V did lose George Whitby to a HIA though, he didn’t return to the contest.
Again the tried to put the pressure on, as a high kick to the corner was contested by both teams with Hastings eventually claiming the fumbled ball, but the referee ruled goal-line dropout.
On the hour mark, Hastings put in an early kick in midfield which Harry Robertson chased but the hosts were awarded the penalty, with it judged the Saints man had pushed the Toulouse defender.
Soon after, Toulouse did make their second half dominance count. The hosts moved the ball from right to left on the Saints line and Olly Ashall-Bott threw a cut-out pass to Benjamin Laguerre on the left wing who crossed for their first points of the night. Jake Shorrocks converted, 6-28.
Toulouse followed it up with a second try with just over ten minutes to go. They moved the ball to their right edge, Luke Polselli cut inside from the right wing after collecting Ashall-Bott’s pass and made some defenders miss before finishing under pressure in the corner. Shorrocks couldn’t convert, 10-28.
A third try quickly followed. A penalty from the restart put Toulouse in Saints territory, Shorrocks fired a cut-out pass to Tyler Dupree who crashed over to score from close range. Shorrocks added the conversion, 16-28.
With less than two minutes to go, Saints were awarded a penalty inside the Toulouse 30 and central to the posts. The Red V opted for two points which Hastings knocked over, 16-30.
Those were the final points of the contest. Saints’ dominant first half earning the Red V a 16-30 victory over Toulouse!
Match Summary
Toulouse Olympique Team: Olly Ashall-Bott, Benjamin Laguerre, Romeo Tropis, Reubenn Rennie, Luke Polselli, Thomas Lacans, Jake Shorrocks, Lambert Belmas, Brendan Hands, Tyler Dupree, Mathieu Jussaume, Pierre-Jean Lima, Anthony Marion.
Interchanges: James Roumanos, Joe Cator, Joe Bretherton, Rob Butler.
18th Man: Ellis Gillam.
Tries: Benjamin Laguerre (65), Luke Polselli (70), Tyler Dupree (74)
Conversions: Jake Shorrocks (2 from 3)
Saints Team: Harry Robertson, Owen Dagnall, Mark Percival, Deon Cross, Lewis Murphy, Tristan Sailor, Jackson Hastings, Agnatius Paasi, Jake Wingfield, George Delaney, Shane Wright, Matt Whitley, David Klemmer.
Interchanges: George Whitby, Noah Stephens, Jake Davies, Alfie Sinclair.
18th Man: Tom Humphreys.
Tries: Agnatius Paasi (4), Lewis Murphy (11, 19), David Klemmer (22), Deon Cross (30)
Conversions: Jackson Hastings (3 from 5)
Penalties: Jackson Hastings (2 from 2)
HT: 0-28
FT: 16-30
