Toulouse Olympique 20-14 Wakefield Trinity: Match Report

Toulouse Olympique have picked up their second Super League win at the expense of Wakefield this evening.

Their win cuts the gap between them and the rest down to just two points and makes a real fight of survival as Wakefield now face the prospect of a relegation scrap.

In a relegation four-pointer like this the first points are always key and they went to Toulouse as Chris Hankinson nailed an early penalty to make it 2-0.

To Wakefield’s credit they responded shortly after when Lewis Murphy produced a lovely finish to take a 4-2 lead. Mason Lino failed to add the extras in what would later prove to be a crucial miss especially as Toulouse edged two points ahead 10 minutes later when Olly Ashall-Bott scored against a club he spent time on loan with last season.

Nonetheless, the tit for tat scoring persisted as Trinity took the halftime lead due to lovely Liam Kay finish playing out wide in place of the injured Tom Johnstone. The play came thanks to a superb pass from Max Jowitt. The conversion followed as they went 10-4.

Shortly after the break that advantage was totally wiped out as Matty Russell went in at the corner to level the scores before Chris Hankinson gave Toulouse the lead with a goal he was again successful with the boot from a penalty to make it 14-10. That would be vital as Wakefield would be soon level as Lee Gaskell’s delayed pass put Corey Hall over but another miss from Lino left the game at 14-all.

The game then entered a battle royale which was ended when Toulouse took a decisive advantage thanks to a 40/20 and from the resulting set Ashall-Bott crossed for his second to make it 20-14 the French side then held on to win by six and pull Trinity into trouble and give themselves a whiff of survival.