POCH WARNS: IT’S A SIN
Wakefield 26 Toulouse
38
WILLIE POCHING ripped into his Wakefield players after a second-half nightmare plunged his side into relegation trouble.
Trinity led 20-4 at half-time but shot themselves in the foot with two sin bins. Bottom side Toulouse, who now trail Wakefield by just two points, took advantage and scored five tries with Trinity down to 12 men.
Poching rapped: “We cannot play at this level with 12 men for 20 minutes – it crucified us. Our ill discipline cost us 100 per cent.”
David Fifita was binned on the stroke of half-time for interference, paving the way for Lambert Belmas, Matty Russell and Nathan Peats to score and give Toulouse a 22-20 lead.
Within two minutes of Fifita’s return, Rob Butler got sin-binned for a dangerous tackle and Toulouse pounced through Latrell Schaumkel, Russell and Guy Armitage.
Poching moaned: “They understand they let the team down. Our discipline was poor and it’s something we need to fix up.
“Toulouse are a quality team, but we cannot concede tries like we did, even with 12 men. That period was critical for us – we need to handle situations better.” This was
Toulouse’s first win away from home in Super League, but it could be massive in their scrap for survival, with nine games left.
Coach Sylvain Houles said: “It was quite a roller-coaster. Watching the first half wasn’t good and we didn’t do what we spoke about all week.
“But the boys did really well in the second half. It was our best half of rugby. It was huge – our first back-toback win and our first away win.”
Defeat would have left Toulouse six points adrift, but Houles warned: “Now we are back in the fight.”
Wakefield looked to be cruising at half-time, but the sin bins sparked a collapse that sounds alarm bells.