Rugby League – Super League: the golden hinge of Toulouse Olympique
Tony Gigot and Lucas Albert, the two former Dragons largely won Toulouse’s first success in the Super League (22-20).
A quality hinge is very often synonymous with success. During the memorable coronations of Toulouse Olympique, we have fond memories of the Francis Pierre-Roger Garrigues pair, the key to the 1973 French championship title. Closer in time, the Australian duo Sean Mullins -Simon Dorrell was capital during the 2000 coronation against Saint-Estève. Saturday evening, during the first success of Toulouse at the expense of the Saints, the merit of the victory goes to the seventeen players checked off on the score sheet, to the immense energy deployed in defense and also to its magnificent hinge.
Fourth Association
Two players largely contributed their stone to the building of the victory: scrum-half Lucas Albert and fly-half Tony Gigot. The two internationals and former Catalan Dragons had the right gesture for eighty minutes. They even dominated their vis-à-vis, a benchmark on the other side of the Channel. At the crucial moments of the meeting, Lucas and Tony showed that they know how to turn lead into gold. In the 66th, Lucas delivers a kick that puts pressure on winger “Josh” Simm. The Toulousains recover the ball and concretize a minute later by Chris Hankison.
Two minutes from time as St Helens cling to their two-point lead (20-18), Captain Gigot executes a magnificent double jump that gives winger Paul Marcon the winning try . “Lucas and Tony have a sense of anticipation and an amazing reading of the game”, argued by Sylvain Houles. Saturday, they were associated for the fourth time since the beginning of the season. On April 1st in Castleford, it is hard to see the management not renewing them for a fifth collaboration. After the try scored against St Helens, the trip to Castleford needs to be transformed by a second consecutive success. With such a hinge, Toulouse Olympique can travel.