Super League: Wakefield Trinity 26-38 Toulouse Olympique - Gap at bottom cut to two
- Published
Joe Bretherton scored a first-half try to give Toulouse hope, and they took advantage
Betfred Super League |
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Wakefield 26 (20) |
Tries: Hood, Ashurst, Fifita, Tanginoa Goals: Jowitt 5 |
Toulouse 38 (4) |
Tries: Bretherton, Belmas, Russell 2, Peats, Schaumkel, Armitage Goals: Hankinson 5 |
Bottom side Toulouse's remarkable second-half fightback earned a win over Wakefield, who are now just two points above them in the Super League table.
Liam Hood, Matty Ashurst and David Fifita tries put Trinity in control, with just a Joe Bretherton reply for as the visitors looked sluggish.
The tide turned after half-time as Toulouse scored five tries without reply to take the lead.
Tries were traded in the last two minutes with the game long gone.
This was a chastening loss for Trinity head coach Willie Poching, whose grimace was visible up in the coaches' box during a nightmare second 40 that undid all of their hard work to that point.
By contrast, Olympique head coach Sylvain Houles and the small band of travelling Toulouse fans who had made the trip to Newcastle were able to celebrate only their fourth win of the campaign.
With Wakefield's loss to Wigan and Toulouse's win against Hull KR last week, the gap was cut to four points - setting up this big Magic Weekend 'four-pointer'.
Trinity did everything right in the opening half as Jacob Miller's kicking game caused problems and gaps were exploited ruthlessly in the Toulouse backline.
Hood sneaked over from dummy-half, Ashurst finished off an inch-perfect kick and Fifita rumbled over in typical fashion to create a buffer.
Bretherton's score gave Toulouse hope, as did the sin-binning of Fifita on the cusp of half-time, and the French side made that numerical advantage pay.
Corey Norman stepped up as chief playmaker and on the back of his prompting and the tireless forward grunt of Justin Sangare, Daniel Alvaro and Romain Navarrete, Toulouse ran amok.
Lambert Belmas and Nathan Peats parted defences through the middle for their tries, while Matty Russell and Latrell Schaumkel finished off opportunities out wide, while Rob Butler followed Fifita to the sinbin shortly after Wakefield returned to full complement.
The game was long gone when Kelepi Tanginoa bulldozed in for Trinity, but a Guy Armitage intercept in the final moments restored the Toulouse advantage and capped a crucial win.
Wakefield head coach Willie Poching:
On league position: "We're in control of it - there's still some more footy to play and that starts next week. We'll get back to the drawing board and we'll have some open and honest discussions, then we'll get back on to chasing the two points next week.
"I've still got the belief and I know the players have got a lot of belief in each other. As far as the battle's concerned, we're in control of it and we're not hoping that other teams trip over."
On the match: "We had such an advantageous position in the first half - we had so much control, field-position and scoreboard wise, but discipline hurt us today.
"Losing two men on separate occasions and playing with 12 for 20 minutes was crucial. They piled on the points when they were off.
"We need to manage the situation better than we did. We've also got to take those situations out of the referee's hands so he doesn't have to make them, because it changed the complex of the game."
Toulouse coach Sylvain Houles:
"It was a rollercoaster - watching that first half wasn't good, because we didn't do what we had spoken about all week.
"It's probably the first time I gave them a little bit of spray. We fought so hard to be here, and it wasn't what we wanted to show everyone in Super League. I thought that we didn't respect ourselves in the first half.
"We knew it was a huge game, really a do-or-die for us, and that's why we fell down in the first half, but I told them, at least if we don't get a win let's make sure we relax and enjoy the atmosphere - it's 'magic'."
Wakefield: Jowitt; Evans, Croft, Hall, Murphy; Miller, Walker; Whitbread, Hood, Arona, Ashurst, Pitts, Batchelor.
Interchanges: Crowther, Butler, Fifita, Tanginoa.
Sin-bin: Fifita (40), Butler (52).
Toulouse: Ashall-Bott; Schaumkel, Armitage, Hankinson, Russell; Norman, Gigot; Navarrete, Peats, Alvaro, Bretherton, Peyroux, Paulo.
Interchanges: Albert, Hansen, Belmas, Sangare.
Referee: Robert Hicks