IT was far less comfortable than it looked like being, but it was job done for Warrington Wolves in France during Round 11.
They picked up two points in Toulouse to stay on the tails of Super League leaders St Helens, but they had to survive a storming fightback from their hosts having seen a 24-0 lead almost evaporate before eventually holding on.
But while it was an up-and-down collective performance, there were a few individuals who caught our eye.
Here’s our five stand-out Wire players from the victory at the Stade Michel Bendichou…
TOBY KING
By far Warrington’s leading light in France was King, who continued what has been a highly consistent start to the campaign.
Whether it was his two tries – carbon-copies of one another to bookend Wire’s scoring – or some hugely important yardage carries, the centre was prevalent in big moments for his side.
In terms of the latter, there was a particularly key run late in the game with his side under huge pressure as he bounced off tackles to get his side out of danger and lay the platform for them eventually taking the sting out of the game.
A game-high nine tackle busts shows just how hard he was to put down while his brace takes him to eight tries for the season, just one behind Josh Thewlis as the team’s leading scorer.
JOSH THEWLIS
King’s two tries both came from flat, bullet-like passes from Thewlis, who continues to grow into the full-back role.
But it was a contribution at the other end of the field that ended up being vitally important.
With the score at 6-0, a Warrington attacking move broke down with the ball hitting the floor, Toulouse winger Benjamin Laguerre picked up the loose ball and raced up the touchline for what looked certain to be a try.
However, Thewlis gamely chased and hauled the speedster down just shy of the try line to snuff out the danger.
With just eight points the difference between the sides, at least four were saved in that one, critical moment.
TOFF SIPLEY
Having started last weekend’s Challenge Cup semi-final, Sipley was back in his usual bench role for this one.
It always felt like something of a bizarre call last week when his best work has all come from the interchanges, and this was another example of how impactful he can be coming on when the game has broken up somewhat.
His 89 metres gained was the highest for a forward on either side, as was his average gain of 8.9m per carry while he got his defensive work done too, making 21 tackles with a 100 per cent completion rate.
It was his late offload too that started to open up the Toulouse defence for Josh Smith to eventually touch down for the second try.
Having had his start to life in England hindered by injury, hopefully this is now the start of him finding some form again.
LIAM BYRNE
Byrne’s job is to lay a platform for his side in the opening phase and in our eyes, he did that very well in Toulouse.
The Ireland international came up with some strong early carries to help Warrington establish early command of proceedings while also getting through his defensive work cleanly.
No missed tackles having completed 25, no errors made or penalties conceded – a solid afternoon’s work for Byrne who is becoming an increasingly important member of the side.
He has settled in well, and long may it continue.
MAX WOOD
A try in Perpignan and now one in Toulouse – Max Wood seems to love playing in France!
He wasn’t on for particularly long – just the one stint either side of half time – but he made enough of an impact to surely keep his spot in the 17 for at least another week.
He owes a lot to Ben Currie’s superb offload for his try, but it still took some finishing as he powered through a scrambling defence.
Sam Burgess continues to stress that he sees Wood as being ready to play at Super League level week in, week out. Now is the time to show he trusts him to do so.
Wood did himself no harm here and with Joe Philbin likely to miss another week at least, he’ll have another opportunity to show supporters’ clamour for him to be more involved is not misplaced.
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