King scores twice in Warrington's win at Toulouse

Betfred Super League

Toulouse (0) 16

Tries: Jussaume, Ashall-Bott 2 Goals: Rouge 2

Warrington (18) 24

Tries: King 2, Smith, Wood Goals: Sneyd 4

Warrington Wolves moved within two points of Super League leaders St Helens with victory against Toulouse.

Toby King, Josh Smith and Max Wood all went over without reply in the first half for the Wire, who extended their lead to 24-0 when King added his second just after half-time.

But tries from Mathieu Jussaume and Olly Ashall-Bott gave Toulouse some hope with 20 minutes left - especially when Warrington's Marc Sneyd was sent to the sin bin for half of that time.

Full-back Ashall-Bott gathered Maxime Stefani's superb kick to score his second, reducing the French side's deficit to eight points, but Warrington saw out the final few minutes without any further alarm.

Sam Burgess' team are level on points with previous leaders Leeds, who lost at Wigan on Friday, while the Wire have a game in hand on both Saints and the Rhinos.

Warrington's full focus this season is now on Super League, having lost their Challenge Cup semi-final to Hull KR last weekend.

Like St Helens did at bottom club Huddersfield on Thursday, the Wire went clear of their lowly opponents before being pegged back in the second half.

The visitors had looked in full control but Toulouse gained momentum as the match wore on.

At 24-16 down following a run of 16 unanswered points, the hosts almost closed the gap even further but Joe Cator was denied by a last-gasp tackle by Josh Thewlis under the posts.

Thewlis was in the thick of the action at both ends, having earlier prevented Benjamin Laguerre from scoring in the first period and setting up King's tries at the start of each half.

Toulouse head coach Sylvain Houles told Sky Sports:

"We gave them too much in the first half and it's a shame. Energy wise, we were pretty much there but there were too many mistakes and penalties that cost us.

"We showed in the second half, when we held onto the ball a little bit more and played when we had to play, that we can put big teams under pressure.

"I really believed we could do it and the atmosphere and energy in the stadium changed a little bit. If Joe Cator scores that try, we could have had a grand finish."

Warrington head coach Sam Burgess told Sky Sports:

"Some things in the first half were good but I'm a bit disappointed with the second half.

"We're probably tired and had a little bit of an emotional drain from [the Challenge Cup defeat] last week as well, so I'm happy to get the two points but performance wise we need to be better.

"We're not quite where we need to be but I'm growing to learn that over the course of a season, you've got to manage these dips and flows in form. If you pick two points up along the way, that's very important.

"I've got quite a number of my spine out of the team so we're sort of patching things together and [teenage half-back] Ewan Irwin has got a lot of responsibility for a young man, so we're understanding that it's not going to be perfect, but I think we can be a little bit better than we were in the second half."

Toulouse: Ashall-Bott; Laguerre, Polselli, Jussaume, Ulberg; Rouge, Marion; Roumanos, Hands, Chan, Stefani, O'Kane, Cator.

Interchanges: Rodriguez, Butler, Gillam, Wallace.

Warrington: Thewlis; Hopoate, Smith, King, Ashton; Irwin, Sneyd; Yates, Powell, Byrne, Bentley, Crowther, Currie.

Interchanges: Walker, Sipley, Wood, Tanginoa.

Referee: Liam Rush.