BULLS 6 TOULOUSE 60

IF POINTS were awarded for doing the right thing then the Bulls would not have suffered as savagely as they did at the hands of leaders Toulouse.

With up to 10 players missing, John Kear could have opted to pull the plug on facing the Championship’s dominant team.

Nobody would have argued at not wanting to tackle a side who have steamrollered all before them – especially when your own resources are so depleted.

And it would have protected their “percentage” in terms of final play-off placings.

But given their gripe about Sheffield’s unwillingness to find an alternative match date when the Eagles cried off, the Bulls were keen to show their integrity in the competition.

It was an honourable stance – but one that saw them finish on the wrong end of a Toulouse masterclass. They were simply a different level to the Bulls.

Those missing from the home ranks through injury or Covid isolation included Danny Brough with a sore hip after his influential return at York last week.

How the Bulls could have done with his game-management and nous to steer them round the pitch against the best in the league. It was a thankless task trying to keep the rampant opposition in some kind of check.

The Bulls may have been the last team to beat Toulouse at Championship level in 2019 but there was no chance of a repeat.

Toulouse wasted no time in getting off the mark as Guy Armitage powered in from Johnathon Ford’s short pass on three minutes.

The Bulls felt Jordan Lilley was hit late in the build-up – and the stand-off was in the wars again when he appeared to be punched off the ball in a brawl.

As the leaders threatened again, David Foggin-Johnston thought he had dumped Ilias Bergal into touch.

But the winger just managed to release the pass in time and Toulouse ruthlessly switched the ball from right to left where Armitage showed his pace to romp in for his second score.

Toulouse’s boisterous approach was not going down well with the crowd but it seemed to get the Bulls going.

Billy Jowitt and Brandon Pickersgill were both levelled with high shots inside the 10 – the full back needing a lengthy period of treatment as he lay prone on the floor.

The game was stopped for almost 12 minutes before Pickersgill, one of four Bulls survivors from that previous win in the south of France, had to be stretchered off. That just added to Kear’s selection woes as youngster Joe Burton was rushed into the firing line.

Toulouse bombed another score with a loose pass from Dominic Peyroux but Ford’s interception inside his own 10 once more turned defence into dangerous attack.

The visitors always seemed to have players in support and Tony Gigot inspired another cross-field raid which ended with former Bulls winger Jy Hitchcox getting the final touch in the corner for their third try.

The Bulls were visibly wilting with the sheer physicality of Toulouse and, after a tired kick from Billy Jowitt flew straight out, the French were celebrating a fourth score.

Gigot was again at the heart of it with a clever flighted pass over the head of Foggin-Johnston to allow Bergal to run in unchallenged.

The first-half procession was not finished and there was still time for a fifth Toulouse try as Romain Navarrete barged in by the posts. Mark Kheirallah’s fifth successful kick made it an emphatic 30-0 as the Bulls limped off for a much-needed respite.

The escape was brief, though, as Justin Sangare’s short-range burst added to the Toulouse tally within four minutes of the restart.

And Sangare struck again with a quickfire second after the towering Armitage bullied Rhys Evans from Kheirallah’s high kick.

As tempers rose, a brawl in midfield saw Sam Hallas and Bergal sin-binned.

And while it briefly became a 12 v 12 contest, the Bulls finally broke their duck. George Flanagan did his party piece under the posts from dummy half to give the fans something to cheer at last.

As the yellow-carded pair returned to the action, Kheirallah headed for the bin for a naughty tip tackle on Thomas Doyle.

But even with a man down, Toulouse could not be stopped as three blue shirts descended on Gigot’s booming kick to the in-goal and Mathieu Jussaume applied the finish.

Try number 10 came from a lightning break sparked by Armitage’s interception. Hitchcox raced on with it and Kheirallah was on his shoulder to take it to the line – before the full back missed his first conversion.

Kheirallah was soon sent in again by the impressive Ford and the conversion took the score up to 60 – the fifth time this season that Toulouse have rattled up so many.

BULLS: Pickersgill; Brown, R Evans, Oakes, Foggin-Johnston; Lilley, Jowitt; B Evans, Doyle, Crossley, England, Hallas, Fleming. Interchange: Burton, Flanagan, Ho, O’Hanlon.

TOULOUSE: Kheirallah; Bergal, Jussaume, Armitage, Hitchcox; Ford, Gigot; Casty, White, Hansen, Peyroux, Bretherton, Paulo. Interchange: Pelissier, Garbutt, Sangar, Navarrete.

BULLS MAN OF MATCH: David Foggin-Johnston.