BRADFORD BULLS ​​10 TOULOUSE OLYMPIQUE ​12
CHRISTIAN LEE, Bartercard Odsal, Saturday

JAKE SHORROCKS’ late penalty snatched victory for Toulouse in a dramatic encounter with play-off rivals Bradford.

Luke Hooley had the chance to level the game for the Bulls after the hooter but his effort sailed agonisingly wide.

Toulouse had the best of the chances early, and looked to have scored through Mathieu Jussuame off a kick, however, the knockdown into his path was deemed to be forward.

Reubenn Rennie also came close to getting on the end of a delicately placed kick but the ball just ran into touch. However, Bradford were ruled offside and Shorrocks edged the visitors ahead with his first penalty-goal.

Bradford were given a boost moments later, however, as Toulouse found themselves down to 12 men after Olly Ashall-Bott was sent to the sin bin for a late tackle on Hooley as he kicked the ball.

Despite appearing to still be suffering the effects of the collision, Hooley stepped up and knocked over the resulting penalty to level the scores.

Playing with the man advantage, Bradford eventually found their way to the line as Jayden Okunbor acrobatically crossed for the game’s opening try.

Set up by a barrelling run by Matty Gee, Bradford spread the ball wide and Waqa Blake bumped off a would-be tackler before finding Okunbor who made no mistake in the corner.

Hooley couldn’t add the extras from the touchline.

A Toulouse high tackle gave Bradford one more chance before the break, and the Bulls capitalised as Hooley kicked his second penalty-goal following ruck interference.

Bradford began the second half on the front foot but a perfectly weighted kick from Thomas Lacans forced a goalline drop-out and changed the momentum.

From the resulting set, the Frenchmen chose to run it on the last and found Ashall-Bott who bounced off his defender and dived over.

Shorrocks made no mistake adding the extras to tie the game.

With almost an hour gone, Okunbor made a mess of trying to prevent Shorrocks’ long kick from heading out of play, conceding a drop-out.

From the resulting kick, Bradford were penalised for stripping the ball as Toulouse charged in and Shorrocks put his side back ahead with his second penalty-goal.

Bradford pushed hard to come back and were given a second chance with less than ten to go as Joe Keyes’ wayward pass was touched by a Toulouse player.

The visitors were then penalised for stripping the ball from Logan Bayliss-Brow and Hooley kicked the simple penalty to level the game once more.

With two minutes on the clock, Bradford were penalised again, this time for a high tackle, and Shorrocks stepped up and edged Toulouse ahead with what looked to be the winner.

However, as Toulouse looked to play out the clock, Bradford were given a penalty of their own on the hooter, metres inside Toulouse’s half after a fracas in the middle.

Hooley stepped up but his effort sailed wide and he fell to his knees as Toulouse rejoiced.

They have now moved into second place and taken a big step towards a home semi-final.

GAMESTAR: Jake Shorrocks was rock solid off the tee all night and his late penalty was the difference between the two sides.

GAMEBREAKER: Luke Hooley had a chance to level the game for the Bulls on the hooter but his effort fell agonisingly wide.

MATCHFACTS
BULLS
26 Luke Hooley
37 Jayden Okunbor
3 Waqa Blake
4 Kieran Gill
5 Guy Armitage
1 Tom Holmes
7 Joe Keyes
8 Michael Lawrence
9 Jordan Lilley
15 Logan Bayliss-Brow
11 Zac Fulton
12 Matty Gee
20 Ronan Michael
Subs (all used)
14 Ebon Scurr
34 Mitch Souter
35 Zane Musgrove
34 Chris Hill

Tries: Okunbor (33)
Goals: Hooley 3/5

OLYMPIQUE
1 Olly Ashall-Bott
19 Benjamin Laguerre
5 Paul Marcon
3 Reubenn Rennie
2 Paul Ulberg
20 Thomas Lacans
7 Jake Shorrocks
8 Lambert Belmas
35 Brendan Hands
17 Rob Butler
4 Mathieu Jussaume
11 Maxime Stefani
13 Anthony Marion
Subs (all used)
15 Joe Cator
16 Joe Bretherton
10 James Roumanos
28 AJ Wallace

Tries: Ashall-Bott (50)
Goals: Shorrocks 4/4

SCORING SEQUENCE: 0-2, 2-2, 6-2, 8-2; 8-8, 8-10, 10-10, 10-12

Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Bulls: Luke Hooley; Olympique: Jake Shorrocks

Penalty count: 7-6
Half-time: 8-2
Referee: Liam Rush
Attendance: 4,792