Wolfpack turn up the heat for narrow win over Toulouse

When the dust settled, Gareth O'Brien's drop goal in the 77th minute was the difference in a tense 13-12 rugby league win over Toulouse Olympique before 7,923 sun-baked spectators at Lamport Stadium.

Tied 8-8 at the break, Toronto went ahead early in the second half on a Chase Stanley try and then absorbed Toulouse pressure until a Stan Robin try in the 71st minute made it 12-12. William Barthau missed the conversion, setting the stage for O'Brien's dramatic boot.

O'Brien is no stranger to big kicks, having made the drop goal that kept Salford in the top-flight Super League in 2016. He had missed three conversion attempts from the sidelines Saturday.

Click on the video below to watch Gareth O'Brien's crucial drop goal.

Gareth O'Brien's drop goal lifts Wolfpack over Olympique

6 years ago

Duration 1:18

O'Brien's drop goal in the 77th minute was the difference as the Toronto Wolfpack squeaked out a 13-12 victory over Toulouse Olympique

While savouring the win, Toronto coach Paul Rowley said his team made things more difficult for itself by letting the visitors off the hook by making unforced errors in the second half.

"The ability to turn the screw at vital times in the game is important. We'll need to do that going forward," Rowley said. "But ultimately [the playoffs] are about winning games and it's another game won."

Toronto (3-2-0) stands fourth in the Super 8s Qualifiers with two games remaining, on track for promotion to the Super League.

In other Saturday action, Widnes Vikings ended a 17-match losing streak with a 26-12 win over Halifax and Hull Kingston Rovers beat London Broncos 30-18.

The Super 8s Qualifiers group the bottom four Super League sides (Leeds Rhinos, Hull KR, Salford Red Devils and Widnes) with the top four Betfred Championship teams (Toronto, London, Toulouse and Halifax RLFC).

After a round-robin, the top three secure Super League status while No. 4 plays No. 5 in the so-called "Million Pound Game" to see who joins them.

Salford leads Leeds and Hull KR, all 4-1-0, on point difference with Toronto fourth and Toulouse (2-3-0) fifth. London (2-3-0) stands sixth ahead of Widnes (1-4-0) and Halifax (0-5-0).

Toronto, which is 0-4-0 all-time against Super League sides, hosts Widnes next weekend before finishing at Leeds.

"We need to beat all the Championship teams," said Rowley. "So we've done that now. That was the minimum requirement for us. We need to now to try and knock off one of the Super League teams as well ... We're excited for the next challenge now."

The rules change next season with only the bottom Super League team facing relegation while the Championship leader gets promoted.

Saturday marked another first for the transatlantic Wolfpack as La Marseillaise rang out before the game for the first visit by a French team.

Mason Caton-Brown and Nick Rawsthorne also scored tries for Toronto. A TV replay showed that a diving Caton-Brown had lost contact with the ball before touching it down but, with no video replay available to referee Tom Grant, the try was awarded.

Paul Marcon also scored a try for Toulouse, which saw Robin sin-binned in the first half for a professional foul (delay of game) and dissent. Mark Kheirallah kicked two penalties for the visitors.

"I'm gutted," said Toulouse coach Sylvain Houles, unhappy at the turn of events. "I don't think our boys deserved that."

It was a physical contest with super-sized Toronto forward Ashton Sims leading the way with some hard-nosed hit-ups.

Toulouse lost veteran Kiwi forward Sam Rapira in the first half to a broken hand, the victim of friendly fire as he crashed into a teammate making a tackle. Toulouse centre Gavin Marguerite dislocated a finger diving for a ball but returned to action after having the offending digit returned to its rightful place.

'Dirty tactics'

An irate Toulouse centre Bastien Ader got up from a 12th-minute tackle by Jack Bussey complaining of a bite to the ear. Midway through the second half, it was Bussey's turn to allege he had been bitten.

"There were some dirty tactics ... and the referee didn't do anything about it," said an angry Houles.

Bussey was not made available to reporters after the game.

Rowley dismissed the controversy, saying the powers that be would review the video and take actions as needed.

"Certainly we don't condone any of that ... If that's happened, the appropriate action will be taken either way."

The Wolfpack, who won their first 19 games in Toronto, came into Saturday's contest having lost two of the last three at Lamport — against Featherstone in the regular-season finale and Hull KR in the Super 8s Qualifiers.

Toronto won both previous meetings with Toulouse this season — 24-22 on April 2 and 43-30 on May 19.