Toulouse Olympique 24 Sheffield Eagles 34: Brace for Bergin as French wilt in heat

The hot conditions made handling difficult but Eagles came up with far fewer errors and dominated after conceding an early try to Sylvian Houles.

Simon Brown got them level soon after and then replacement Matty Brooks put Sheffield into the lead just before the half-hour mark.

They where not going to relinquish it as they out-muscled and out-thought their opponents with huge contributions from full-back Misi Taulapapa and centre Tangi Ropati.

The French side could net get a grip on this pair and their powerful surging runs.

Although Houles got a second try for the hosts, they could not deny the Eagles as Danny Mills raced up the line and skilful crossfield passing brought the impressive Ropati a further super score in the right hand corner giving the visitors a well deserved six-point lead at the break.

Toulouse committed too many handling errors and Eagles made them pay with the lively Tim Bergin coming up with two fine opportunistic tries around the hour mark to seal the fate of the French side.

Sheffield's best forward, Alex Szostak, got their sixth and final try 10 minutes from the end.

An outplayed French side got some reward with late tries from Teli Pelo and Bruno Ormeno.

Toulouse: Bromley, Mendes, Ormeno, Planas, Biennes, Houles, Wynn, Worth, Gigord, Mencarini, Tisseyre, Maria, Anselme. Substitutes: Gout, Pelo, Larroyer, Gay

Sheffield Eagles: Taulapapa, Bergin, Ropati, Yere, Mills, Lindsay, Brown, Hepworth, Cook, Stringer, Szostak, Green, Exon. Substitutes: Corcoran, Haley, Hirst, Brooks.

Referee: R Hicks.