MATCH REPORT | OLYMPIANS PULL AWAY FROM WASTEFUL FAX
Despite the effort and endeavour put in by a down on troops Halifax Panthers side, Toulouse Olympique proved why they are 2nd in the Betfred Championship table with an at times ruthless display in an entertaining 38-18 battle at a sunny Stade Ernest Wallon.
The score line doesn’t even tell half the story though as Fax battled back three times to be within a score of the lead but each time, poor execution and tired defence meant that Olympique always had the Panthers at arm’s length.
Another factor the score line doesn’t tell is that Fax only travelled to France with 19 men and the last minute withdrawals of Gareth Widdop and James Saltonstall meant that Liam Finn was forced to name an unusual line up and give his middle men longer minutes. Form fullback in the Championship James Woodburn-Hall was moved out to the wing with Louis Jouffret dropping to the full-back, Salford loanee Kai Morgan was handed his first full start in the cauldron of the Toulouse sunshine.
Possibly just as surprising was the inclusion of an almost forgotten man in Ben Hursey, not featured in a Fax shirt since Round 9 with a short loan spell at Whitehaven in between. But it was the forgotten man who was the eye catcher for Fax with 2 well taken tries to put himself right in the mix for selection once more heading into a Derby with Bradford.
Toulouse started as they did at the Shay a couple of months previous – strongly and with intent. Laurent Belmas and the outstanding Antony Marion punching holes in the middle to give Olly Ashall-Bott the space to do what he has done all year and cause havoc for defences, the full back getting on the outside of Joe Keyes to put Guy Armitage over in the first 5 minutes.
“T-O” were over soon after, a lovely runaround involving Marion and Belmas saw the former grubber the ball through which bounced over the whole Fax defence right into the arms of Maxime Stefani to ground just in time. Jake Shorrocks converted and Toulouse were 10-0 up with 10 minutes gone.
But back came Fax as straight away they marched down into Toulouse territory and Joe Keyes’ measured kick into the sunshine was plucked out of the air by Charlie Graham to score his 10th try in Panthers colours. Jouffret converted and Fax were right back in the contest.
Not for long though as Toulouse then scored 2 quick fire tries to possibly put the game out of sight for the home side. Stefani claimed his 2nd after Connor Davies couldn’t resist trying to claim a grubber kick, spilling the ball straight into Stefani’s arms to touch down. Then brilliant ball handling evaded both Ben Tibbs and Graham’s interception attempts after shooting out of the line to leave Benjamin Laguerre a stroll in at the corner. Shorrocks converting one of the efforts to put Toulouse 20-6 up with 25 minutes gone.
But Fax hung on in there, defending desperately and mixing it up in attack, possibly guilty of overplaying at times, before Hursey took the direct route from a nice Keyes and Clement Boyer runaround as from 30m out, the young back rower powered through the TO defence, stepping Ashall-Bott and diving over the line for one of the tries of the season much to the delight of the Fax travelling support.
Jouffret couldn’t add the extras but Fax had got to half time only 20-10 down after so much pressure.
The first try of the second half is always important and it went to the Panthers as less than 5 minutes in, Jouffret’s grubber kick caused all sorts of problems for Laguerre and Ben Tibbs took advantage to score and swing the momentum back in Fax’s favour. Jouffret couldn’t add the extras so Fax were still 2 scores away at 20-14.
Toulouse then struck right back as Stefani powered over for his hattrick on the left but as he cut back inside to touch down under the posts, he somehow dropped the ball with referee Arryn Belafonte in his first Championship match on the spot to give the decision and Halifax a lifeline.
Not long after came the defining moment of the match for Fax, attacking on their own goal line, they shifted the ball wide to Ben Tibbs who got outside of Paul Marcon who pulled up with his hamstring leaving Tibbs 2 on 1 with Ashall-Bott with Jouffret in support.
Instead of pinning his ears back and going for the corner or really attracting the Olympique fullback, Tibbs did neither and gave the ball too early to Jouffret who was eventually caught 15m out from the line. Even more frustrating was that from the play the ball, Fax had 3 men over on the right but a lapse in concentration from Adam Tangata at dummy half meant he was too slow, Ashall-Bott got his hands to it and knocked it on putting an end to that move and a golden chance for Fax to go level and who knows, a victory in France for the first time in 7 years.
Fax overplayed the resulting set of 6 gifting Toulouse possession back and from the resulting set of 6 Fax had, Ashall-Bott collected a Keyes bomb, made his way through some tired Fax chasers and broke down field for what should have been his own score but instead handed it onto the supporting Ryan Rivett to score and convert an absolute sucker punch of a try to put Toulouse 26-14 up with just over 15 minutes to go.
But Fax struck back instantly, a midfield break from Woodburn-Hall followed by another great break from Boyer, who was just stopped short of the line, setup the field position for Keyes to send Hursey powering over from close range for his 2nd try to give Fax belief at 26-18.
But Jouffret was wide with the conversion once more and an unusual 1 from 4 record from the tee.
That was as good as it got for the Panthers as Toulouse, inspired by Marion moving into the halves after Jake Shorrocks failed an HIA, took the game away from the Panthers and gave the score line a very flattering look for Olympique.
Ulberg crossed wide on the left from a perfect cutout pass from Ashall-Bott. Then from the short kickoff, Laguerre leapt highest and broke away to put Rivett in for his 2nd but for a brilliant tap tacke from Keyes who stopped the half back just short of the line. On the very next tackle though, Marion went through some very tired Panthers defence to wrap up the game for Olympique, Rivett converting both to make the final score Toulouse Olympique 38-18 Halifax Panthers.
Toulouse Olympique
Ashall-Bott, Ulberg, Armitage, Marcon, Laguerre, Rivett, Shorrocks, Belmas, Gahan, Hansen, Stefani, Lima, Marion
Subs: Pelissier, Akauola, Biscarro, Cator (18th Man: Rodriguez)
Tries: Armitage (6), Stefani (11, 20), Laguerre (24), Rivett (59), Ulberg (72), Marion (74)
Goals: Shorrocks 2/4, Rivett 3/3
Halifax Panthers
Jouffret, Woodburn-Hall, Barber, Tibbs, Graham, Morgan, Keyes, Larroyer, O’Brien, Foster, Hursey, Davies, Hird
Subs: Johnson, Tangata, Boyer, Fairbank (18th Man: Saltonstall)
Tries: Graham (15), Hursey (33, 64), Tibbs (45)
Goals: Jouffret 1/4
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