The Robins were beaten 32-12 at home to Toulouse
Hull KR were convincingly second best against Toulouse(Image: SW Pix)
Playing three games in nine days was always going to be a struggle for Hull KR and they were well beaten on Saturday night as they collapsed to a 32-12 defeat against Toulouse Olympique.
They conceded six tries against the French side, who ultimately cruised to victory against Willie Peters’ lacklustre Rovers. The east Hull outfit were a shadow of what we have come to expect under the Australian head coach as they failed to compete physically and the catalogue of errors didn’t help.
Elliot Minchella and Louix Gorman scored KR’s only tries of the game, with Toulouse getting over through Romeo Tropis, who scored two, Mathieu Jussaume, Paul Ulberg, Anthony Marion and Luke Polselli.
Rovers still hold a play-off spot, but the gap between themselves and St Helens in seventh place now stands at just two points with three games remaining.
KR were given no time to dwell on their loss to Warrington Wolves on Tuesday night and while they may have drawn a line under it mentality, physically they were clearly still feeling the impact of it.
That was made immediately clear at Craven Park as Robins found themselves losing the arm wrestle against Toulouse, who had the home side camped inside their own half for large periods of the first half.
KR were without someone to take the game by the scruff of the neck in attack in Tyrone May’s absence, but they were also lacking energy, tenacity and physicality on the other side of the ball. They were falling off tackles with regularity and that allowed Toulouse to claim the lead they deserved through Jussaume, who slipped through the challenge of Jack Broadbent with ease to touch down unopposed.
The hosts managed to hit back immediately, with Peta Hiku powering through a hole in the middle of the field before putting Minchella over.
And Hiku thought he had another just before the break before seeing play pulled back by the video referee James Vella.
However, KR struggled to get themselves going in the second half too, and the French side took the lead once more, this time through Tropis. Laguerre was the man who made it, slipping through a Tom Davies challenge to burst down the line before feeding his centre.
Things went from bad to worse for the Robins as Marion collected a kick that Arthur Mourgue had allowed to bounce before charging over the line and touching down under the posts.
With their tails up, Toulouse added a fourth with the mistake coming from Burgess, spilling a high kick before giving Ulberg the freedom of the wing to collect a floated pass and touch down unopposed.
A fifth Toulouse try was scored by Tropis with the centre powering through Charles before rounding Broadbent and touching down again.
KR’s misery was compounded when full-back Polselli got over in the closing minutes before Gorman gave the supporters still in the ground something to cheer about.