French club Toulouse visited South Leeds Stadium yesterday (15 May 2016) in the Kingstone Press League 1 and took two points from Hunslet Hawks, beating them 24-46.
Three tries by the full time, big money club at the start of each half proved too much for Hunslet to compete with. The Hawks showed good effort and battled throughout the game, but were unable to stop the French side when it mattered.
Photos: Steve Gaunt / Touchlinepics.com
Toulouse got off the mark in the fifth minute when Tony Maurel scored the first of his three tries. Mark Kheirallah missed the kick, but made up for it two minutes later when he scored his first try from the return and kicked the extras.
After 14 minutes Toulouse were 0-14 after Curran went over, Kheirallah missed his kick again.
Hunslet got on the board on the half hour with a try from Liam Mackay, which Simon Brown converted.
Five minutes later Jack Lee scored and again Brown kicked the extras to bring Hunslet to within two points of the Frenchmen at half time, 12-14.
The second half started like the first with three tries for Toulouse. Tony Maurel scored on 42 minutes and completed his hat trick three minutes later. Mark Kheirallah scored his second try on 51 minutes to take the score to 12-30.
On 58 minutes Hunslet got back on the board as Simon Brown scored and then converted his try, bringing Hunslet back within two scores of Toulouse.
But Toulouse kicked on as Kuni Minga (62 minutes), Gavin Marguerite (64) and Jonathon Ford (70) extended their lead to 18-46.
The Hawks got their last score on 77 minutes as Jack Lee scored his second try of the match. Simon Brown once again kicked the extras
Full time score: Hunslet Hawks 24-46 Toulouse
Speaking to BBC Radio Leeds after the match Hunslet Coach Matt Bramald said he was happy with the effort his team had shown. He identified the key difference as the quality of Toulouse’s halfbacks and their decision making.
Teams
Hunslet Hawks: Jimmy Watson, James Duckworth, Ayden Faal, Mufaro Mvududu, Richie Barnett, Simon Brown, Danny Ansell, Michael Haley, Jack Lee, Lewis Reed, Ben Crane, Jake Normington, Liam Mackay. Subs: Austin Bell, Craig Robinson, Matt Carbutt, Daniel Williams.
Toulouse: Mark Kheirallah, Tony Maurel, Gavin Marguerite, Gregory White, Kuni Minga, Jonathon Ford, Arthur Gonzalez-Trique, Tyla Hepi, Kane Bentley, Bastien Canet, Clement Boyer, Rhys Curran, Anthony Marion. Subs: Mourad Kriouache, Maxime Peuch, Samy Masselot, Justin Sangare.
