Halifax turn up heat to trample over Toulouse

“Our ball retention was very good and we resisted the temptation to start chucking it about,” he said.

“We wanted to show how to build pressure on a team, and our execution of that was first class.”

Nine tries, all converted by centre Lee Paterson, were testament to the way in which Fax went about their work against a game but ultimately outclassed French outfit playing five weeks after the end of the domestic season.

Paterson opened the scoring, and further first-half tries followed from Sam Barlow, Joe Chandler and Anthony Thackeray.

The onslaught continued after the break with Paul White grabbing a brace, Handforth following up Paterson’s break, Bowman crashing over from a short ball, and Ross Divorty sprinting through untouched.

The French reply was only a consolation as Fax controlled matters from start to finish.

Harrison added: “That was a really useful experience for us as a team, and for me to have a good look at some of the younger lads in the squad. We played really well at times out there and young Josh Barlow and Ian Davies I thought were outstanding.”

He saved particular praise for Sam Barlow who was man of the match, saying: “We tried to give Sam some serious game time and really hoped that he would be able to do the full 80 minutes. As it was, the hour that he put in was out of the top drawer.”

Toulouse Olympique: Innes, Maze, Ormeno, Coutourier, Reveillon, Planas, Didone, Delpoux, Kriouache, Gout, Moliner, Saintignan, Houles. Substitutes: Barthau, Gonzalez-Trique, Canton, Maurel.

Halifax: Fieldhouse, Worrincy, Paterson, Haley, White, Bowman, Thackeray, Ambler, Handforth, Hesketh, Manning, Divorty, SBarlow. Substitutes: Penkywicz, Chandler, J Barlow, Davies.