Toulouse Olympique demonstrated in Cumbria that they will be in the mix for the Betfred Championship title when they beat Barrow Raiders 24-4.
Relegated from the Super League there has been much speculation on how equipped they will be to go straight up again.
Well on this evidence it seems they won’t be far away for although Barrow stuck at it well after a dismal start, the French side were clearly the sharper outfit.
The Cumbrians had trailed 16-4 at half-time after conceding three tries in the first 13 minutes and would have been in deeper trouble if those scores had been converted.
Indeed Toulouse finished the game with six tries and not a single conversion or penalty on target or things could have looked really messy for Barrow.
The opening try had come after just four minutes when the visitors moved the ball smartly for full-back Olly Ashall-Bolt to find the room and go in at the corner.
Two minutes later they were in again with a super try almost the length of the field and finished off in the corner by Reuben Remmie.
Barrow’s first real threat on nine minutes ended with Shane Toal being dumped into touch inches from the try line
Toulouse showed how it should be done with another flowing handling move which ended with Benjamin Laguerre going over in the corner.
Barrow got themselves on the scoreboard after 23 minutes when they moved the ball swiftly across field for Ryan Shaw to dive over in the corner for an unconverted try.
It was hard going for Barrow to create scoring opportunities but coach Paul Crarey might have been happy to go into the dressing room at half-time only 12-4 down.
But four minutes from the break the visitors scored again, After ramping up the pressure, Dominique Peuroux produced a spectacular finish.
Clearly the first try of the second half was going to be vital and unfortunately for the hosts it went Toulouse’s way in the 49th minute when Laguerre found space down the Raiders right hand side to dive over in the corner.
The final try of the game came on 65 minutes when Jake Shorrocks – who missed all the kicks – made some contribution to the score when he bulldozed his way over for the touchdown.
Barrow fought hard to the final hooter but were not able to get in serious, damaging blows at the Toulouse defence.
