Sylvain Houles remains confident Toulouse can avoid relegation

Toulouse coach Sylvain Houles insists they still have full belief they can avoid relegation from Super League despite sitting six points below their rivals.

The French side were pumped 40-6 by Challenge Cup holders Wigan in front of a 14,000-strong crowd at the DW Stadium on Friday night.

In the Super League table, rock-bottom Toulouse are six points behind Wakefield and Salford who are their closest rivals.

But with a month of fixtures coming up against Hull KR, Wakefield, Leeds and Salford – Houles says they are must-win games if they are to achieve Super League survival.

Speaking to Love Rugby League after their loss at Wigan, Houles said: “The next four games for us are huge.

“Today was about enjoying the experience of Wigan, it is mad for us that we are here tonight at the DW Stadium in front of 14,000. We wanted to give a good game and a good image of us but we are really disappointed with the first half but I thought Wigan were red hot.

“The next month is crucial. We play every team who are close to us – the teams who are six points ahead of us – so them games are big. They are four-point games so we target them games.”

Sylvain Houles: We know our players are good enough to do it

He added: “We play Hull KR next week and it is a game we need to win and after that is Magic Weekend against Wakefield and the list goes on.

“We believe it, we know what we need to do. The boys know exactly what to expect and they need to do it together and at the right time. Wigan are second so it was a bit too much for us today.

“There is a confidence and a trust in each other. We know our players are good enough to do it. We need to start to win very quickly, starting from next week.”

Houles revealed that hooker Eloi Pelissier left the action early with a hip injury. They lost Andrew Dixon (groin) and Matty Russell (calf) in the warm-up.

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