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MATCH REPORT: Toulouse 42-14 Dewsbury Rams

Dewsbury Rams were defeated in their penultimate Betfred Championship fixture by French side Toulouse on a sweltering hot Saturday afternoon in the south of France.

The Rams showed fantastic character in what were testing conditions on the day, the visitors had to play 65 minutes with only 16 men as Joe Martin went off injured and Fraser Morris came off with a concussion knock in different parts of the game.

It was the home side who got off to the best start as James Bell crossed the whitewash in the sixth minute to score the first try of the game. Anthony Marion converted the kick to put Toulouse 6-0 up.

The second try came only a few moments later when Constantine Mika slipped his way through the Rams defence to score, Marion again converted the extra points.

Toulouse had started strong and kept the pressure up when Taioalo Vaivai scored the third try of the game. Marion again put the ball between the sticks to now make the score 18-0 to Toulouse.

Dewsbury then started to get into the game and went on a few attacks themselves, with Luke Nelmes and Martyn Reilly doing some hard running up the pitch, and both Daniel Igbinedion and Adam Ryder making good yards too. The Rams went close to the Toulouse line on a few occasions but sadly no points were scored.

The score stayed at 18-0 until half time, it only took the home side three minutes to get back into the groove of things when Stanislas Robin grabbed his first try of the afternoon. Marion again didn’t miss the kick and that made the tally 24-0 to Toulouse.

Dewsbury then swung into action and it was a fantastic move down the left hand side which Sam Day finished off nicely in the corner for a terrific try. Liam Finn was on kicking duty for the Rams but sadly couldn’t convert his kick to add to the Rams tally, the score now stood at 24-4 to Toulouse.

Daniel Igbinedion was then sin-binned for descent and the Rams were down to 12 men on the field.

Robin got his second try of the day for Toulouse eleven minutes after his first one on the 54th minute. A well worked move, Marion scored the two points again by converting the kick which left the tally at 30-4 to the home side.

Dewsbury grabbed their second try of the afternoon on the 58th minute when Luke Nelmes popped a fabulous ball off to Martyn Reilly who steamrolled his way through the Toulouse defence to score a superb try. Finn this time made his kick count and the tally was now Toulouse 30-10 Dewsbury.

The home side grabbed two more tries in quick succession as Marion scored on the 62nd minute and Vaivai on the 65th minute. Marion converted both his kicks meaning the score now stood at 42-10 to Toulouse.

Dewsbury scored the final try of the afternoon as Sam Day leaped up in the air to catch Jacob Thomas’s well timed kick to score for the Rams. Finn again missed his kick meaning the score finished 42-14 to Toulouse.