Today was do or die for us, admits Toulouse coach Sylvain Houles

Drew Darbyshire
Sylvain Houles Toulouse Olympique SWpix

Photo: Ed Sykes/SWpix

Toulouse coach Sylvain Houles admitted his side needed to beat Wakefield if they were to have a chance of avoiding relegation from Super League.

The French side scored 34 points in the second half to produce an incredible comeback to beat rivals Wakefield 38-26 at Magic Weekend on Saturday.

Toulouse’s win at Newcastle sees them move to within two points of relegation rivals Wakefield.

Speaking after the game, Houles said: “It was a rollercoaster. Watching the first half wasn’t good and I thought that we poor with pressure in the first half. It wasn’t us and we didn’t do what we spoke about all week.

“Half-time was about getting back into the grind a little bit. At half-time with Wakefield having a man in the sin bin gave us a bit of life. The boys did very well with it because I think Wakefield had one set in that 10 minutes; and we scored three tries there.

“We didn’t speak too much about it but we knew it was a huge game. It was probably do or die for us.”

Sylvain Houles: It is our first time having back-to-back wins

He continued: “We fell in the first half and when it was 20-4 at half-time, I told the boys even if we don’t get a win now then at least play our game. We made sure we were relaxed and that we enjoyed the environment. It is Magic Weekend, we took the pressure and stress away.

“It is our first time having back-to-back wins and our first away win in Super League.”

Toulouse are at home for the next three games against Leeds, Salford and Hull as they aim for Super League survival.

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