St Helens were booed off as they lost at home to Toulouse Olympique with the Red Vee slipping out of the top six.
Saints slipped to an embarrassing 46-0 loss to the promoted side with the French outfit scoring eight tries, five of which came in the second half as the home team simply folded.
Paul Rowley was forced into a host of changes with all of Daryl Clark, Alex Walmsley, George Delaney, Shane Wright and David Klemmer dropping out, resulting in three debuts in the pack.
Two of those came for academy products with loanee Jed Cartwright also representing the club for a first time but the disconnect in the pack was evident throughout the game.
Toulouse opened the scoring inside just two minutes and it only got worse from there with Mathieu Jussaume adding his second after 15 minutes before two Jake Shorrocks penalties kept the scoreboard ticking over.
Henry O’Kane scored on the half time hooter and the onslaught continued in the second half as Tiaki Chan and Paul Ulberg scored before the hour to make it 30-0. More lapses in concentration saw Romeo Tropis able to cross over untouched before Mathieu Jussaume was able to complete his hat-trick and make it 40-0.
Toulouse still had time for an eighth try as St Helens fell to what is believed to be their first ever home nilling in Super League.
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St Helens and Toulouse Olympique talking points
Tricky Toulouse back up
After their best win of the season last week at Magic Weekend, Toulouse backed up with another brilliant performance as they moved to ninth in Super League, effectively best of the rest.
Plenty will be said of St Helens and the fact they lost the game but Toulouse went and took the game to the home side and earned a deserved win with a true 80-minute performance, something they’ve really struggled to put together this year.
Familiar face Olly Ashall-Bott was heavily involved but this game was won in the middle, something that shouldn’t be a surprise given how short Saints were in the pack. Tiaki Chan and recent recruit John Toleafoa offered so much impact from the bench to add to the early damage done by the likes of Rob Butler and James Roumanos.
In this sort of weather, it’s fair to say that Toulouse are a threat to anyone.
Play-off record at risk
Since the launch of Super League in 1996, there has been just one side to make the play-offs in every single season – St Helens. It’s now fair to say that the record is massively at risk.
Today’s result saw them slip out of the six and whilst there’s still a third of the season to go, Saints will be without a number of key players for many of those games.
Daryl Clark was reported as an eight-week injury and whilst George Delaney and Alex Walmsley should return next week, there’s still a host of other players out.
A final three games of the season against Leeds Rhinos, Leigh Leopards and Hull KR, the latter two of whom they may be contesting a play-off spot with, will prove pivotal if they’re to make the six but it’s fair to say that there’s cause for concern now.
Injury toll rises
If St Helens weren’t short on troops before this game, as evidenced by the loan of Jed Cartwright and two academy debuts handed out, they’ll certainly be short on troops after it as they suffered yet another injury.
Owen Dagnall was tackled into touch just after the 50th minute with the young outside back immediately writhing in pain and left holding his knee. A stretcher would come on for Dagnall but he was thankfully able to walk from the pitch, albeit with help from two physios.
Given that Dagnall has previously suffered knee issues, Saints will be desperate that he’s not suffered a similar injury but any sort of MCL tear, or worse ACL, would likely end his season.
Saints sweating ban
At 14-0 down, St Helens were lucky not to have their situation worsened as prop Daniel Suluka-Fifita deliberately ran into hooker Brendan Hands off the ball whilst Hands was not looking.
Whilst the contact wasn’t that forceful, the height differential and the fact it was a blindside shot meant Hands went spiralling to the floor after contact was made on his head. Missed at the time, the incident was simply placed on report but the Red Vee can likely count themselves lucky not to go down to 12.
That incident will of course be looked at by the Match Review Panel and Saints will be praying no action comes as they cannot afford to lose another forward.
Error count kills Saints
Knowing that Toulouse are a side who typically grow into games, the message should have been clear for St Helens. Don’t go behind early and ensure that you complete high in the first half.
They failed in both parts with loanee Jed Cartwright knocking on inside 40 seconds to allow Toulouse the possession to score after two minutes and from there, it only got worse.
Saints completed at just 64% in the first half with a major reason being their eight penalties and five errors, all of which ensured they had to make 54 more tackles and that extra work equated to fatigue, which was evident in the second half.
⏹️ Full time in Round 18.#COYS | @LPL_Airport pic.twitter.com/h5kmxq6RFN
— St.Helens R.F.C. (@Saints1890) July 12, 2026
