THE Toronto Wolfpack, featuring Gerringong’s Ashton Sims, moved further clear at the summit off the Betfred Championship and bounced back from defeat in outstanding fashion, with a comfortable victory over Toulouse Olympique in the opening match of the Dacia Magic Weekend.
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The top two sides from the second division went head to head in a history making contest at St James’ Park in a game packed with physical hits and terrific attacking play throughout.
In the end, despite a tight opening first half, the Wolfpack, who were without the services of Culburra’s Jack Buchanan, were too strong in the second half, cutting loose with five well worked tries to blow the French side away and record their tenth straight win in the league.
Toronto’s attack looked sharp and threatened all over the field, resulting in eight tries in total, including another hat trick to Liam Kay and a debut try to Matty Russell in what was a highly entertaining spectacle for the Magic Weekend crowd played in perfect conditions.
For Wolfpack coach Paul Rowley, it was more than just a win for the club, who went a long way to righting the wrongs of last week’s disappointing defeat to Warrington and he spoke of his satisfaction in his players performance after the game.
“I’m happy with the victory – I thought we got back on track from the previous week with a better show of character and a better attitude towards the game in the face of adversity,” Rowley said.
“Obviously to knock off the second placed team and open up a five point gap between ourselves and the following pack is great so I’m very happy with the players.
“I thought parts of the game were scrappy at times so there are a few things to work on but the result is very pleasing and the manner of it as well.”
Rowley heaped praise the impact from his wingers on the game, including debutante Russell.
“I thought our wingers were the two best players on the field,” he said.
“Matty Russell was certainly up there as one of our best, it was a fantastic debut and I’m very happy for him, it was a polished performance.”
Conversely Toulouse boss Sylvain Houles was left ruing an opportunity missed, after seeing his side fall away for large parts of the second half.
“I think they [Toronto] just had too much size and power for us,” he said.
“After half-time we just couldn’t control their big boys in the middle of the ruck and they got on top of us.”
“They have plenty of speed and experience in their side as well and we didn’t cope very well with them in patches but having said that we never gave up and I was very happy with the character my boys showed.”
The Wolfpack next take to the field on Saturday, May 26 against the Leigh Centurions at Bloomfield Road.
