Toronto wing it as French fall to Kay hat-trick
TORONTO coach Paul Rowley hailed his side’s attitude after the Wolfpack responded to their illdisciplined Warrington nightmare in the best possible way.
The ambitious Canadian club had one man sent off, three sin binned and were down to 10 men at one stage in crashing out of the Challenge Cup 66-10 seven days earlier, having led after 39 minutes.
But with winger Liam Kay scoring a hat-trick – including one that never should have stood – the Wolfpack moved further clear at the top of the Championship after his Magic Weekend opener.
Rowley said: “We got back on track from the previous week and had a better character and attitude towards the game.
“If anything, when things didn’t go our way we were a lot less petulant in our reaction to adversity and it was a step in the right direction.
“We were really honest and hard on ourselves in the review of last week, and weren’t happy at all.
“That’s not the way we want to portray ourselves.
“Today was an opportunity to not right the wrong, but certainly to put our best foot forward and show what we are about as sportsmen.
“To knock off the second-placed team gives us a nice little cushion and I was happy with the outcome and the attitude of the players.”
Rowley heaped praise on wingers Kay and debutant Matty Russell, and their early tries helped Toronto into a 12-0 lead.
That was down to 16-12 at the break after scores from Mourad Kriouache and Anthony Marion cancelled out Andrew Dixon’s effort, before the Wolfpack grasped control after the restart.
After Kay’s controversial effort, the impressive Ryan Brierley and Kay again touched down to make it 32-12.
Charles Bouzinac and Sam Hopkins then traded tries, before the injury-hit French finished with a flourish through Rhys Curran and Johnathon Ford.
Toulouse coach Sylvain Houles said: “We showed some character and never gave up, and that’s what our team and our club is all about.”