Emotional Houles celebrates 'historic' Toulouse triumph

An emotional Sylvain Houles hailed a historic night for Toulouse Olympique as they claimed their first Betfred Super League win with a stunning comeback against champions St Helens.

Converted tries from Matty Russell and former Saints player Dominique Peyroux put the hosts into a 12-8 lead at Stade Ernest Wallon, although the unbeaten leaders hit back to lead 20-12 midway through the second half.

But Chris Hankinson's converted try and an unconverted score from Paul Marcon in the closing stages snatched a memorable 22-20 triumph which head coach Houles felt had been brewing for the side which won promotion from the Betfred Championship last year.

"St Helens are the best in rugby league in Europe, but the boys have been working so hard for weeks and you could feel it coming," Houles said. "We could sense a belief and we know exactly what is needed in this competition and they pulled it out of the bag today.

"It's historic, it's our first win in Super League and it is ironic that it was St Helens. It could only be Toulouse! It is up to us now; it is in our hands to stay in Super League."

Two tries from Tommy Makinson and one apiece from Josh Simm, Jack Welsby and Dan Norman, plus two conversions from Lewis Dodd, accounted for St Helens' tally as their five-game unbeaten run came to an end.

Saints' first loss of 2021 came in France as well when they were beaten by Catalans Dragons and head coach Kristian Woolf want to find out the reasons for their travel woes.

"It's true our first losses of both seasons have been in France and we need to find out the reasons why," Woolf said. "But let's not take any credit from Toulouse, they were excellent tonight and there are going to be lots of teams who come here and lose this