WARRINGTON Wolves held off a late Toulouse fightback to win 24-16 in France.
The Wolves led 24-0 in the second half as they looked like bouncing back from last weekend’s cup defeat with a straight forward win.
But they lost their way in the final quarter and nearly invited the hosts in, Toulouse managing three tries and only a desperate intervention by Josh Thewlis denied Joe Cator a fourth under the posts that would have set up a grandstand finish.
A Marc Sneyd 40/20 helped Warrington get on their way, setting the platform for Toby King to cross for the game’s opening try on seven minutes.
Although Sneyd missed the subsequent conversion, he would make it 6-0 via a penalty goal as Toulouse hindered themselves with mistakes and ill discipline.
Despite that, Warrington had to wait until the 27th minute to extend their lead further. With Albert Hopoate stricken on the other side of the field, Josh Smith found himself on the right wing and was fed by a smart pass by James Bentley, and he comfortably stepped through full-back Olly Ashall-Bott to score.
Toulouse’s task was made the more difficult when Ellis Gillam was sent to the sinbin for a shoulder to the head of Smith as he was held in a tackle.
And Warrington’s first half work looked very well done when the lead was stretched to 18-0, Toulouse backing off from a high Sneyd kick, enabling Ben Currie to catch and offload for Max Wood to power over for his second try in France this season, having scored in the defeat to Catalans.
When King crossed for his second try 12 minutes in to the second half, with Sneyd converting for 24-0, there was no sign of what was to follow.
But three tries in 10 minutes dragged Toulouse back in to the contest.
After retrieving the ball from a short kick-off, Toulouse finally made some pressure pay, with Mathieu Jussaume powering over on the right hand side, and then pacey ex-Widnes man Olly Ashall-Bott found his way to the line.
Toulouse were further encouraged when following that Ashall-Bott try, Sneyd was sent to the sinbin for a late hit on Henry O’Kane as he put the pass on for Ashall-Bott to score.
And playing against 12 men, Toulouse scored again a few minutes later, when Cesar Rouge’s high kick was kept alive by Luke Poliselli, and an excellent reverse kick by Maxime Stefani was gathered by Ashall-Bott for his second to reduce the score to 24-16 with 12 minutes still to play.
It could have been closer but for Thewlis’ intervention on Cator, who bounced off a tackle and landed a few metres short and got up to seemingly put the ball under the posts, only for the video replays to show Thewlis’ desperate attempts to get back had caused Cator to spill the ball inches from the line.
As it was, Toulouse couldn’t quite find the score to make Warrington wobble further, though the margin of defeat meant Toulouse did prevent the Wolves leapfrogging Leeds on points difference and so they remain third in the table.
Toulouse: Ashall-Bott; Laguerre, Polselli, Jussaume, Ulberg; Rouge, Marion; Roumanos, Hands, Chan, Stefani, O’Kane, Cator.
Interchanges: Rodriguez, Butler, Gillam, Wallace.
Warrington: Thewlis; Hopoate, Smith, King, Ashton; Irwin, Sneyd; Yates, Powell, Byrne, Bentley, Crowther, Currie.
Interchanges: Walker, Sipley, Wood, Tanginoa.
