Beaumont says Leigh did not underestimate Toulouse

Derek Beaumont has insisted that Leigh Centurions did not underestimate Toulouse Olympique despite losing to the Championship One side in the Challenge Cup. 

The Centurions were knocked out in the Challenge Cup fifth round, going down 10-8 to the French side who currently play in a division lower than the Kingstone Press Championship leaders.

Despite this, Beaumont is adamant that Leigh were fully prepared for the fixture and credit must be given to Toulouse for their performance in the game. 

“Despite what some people think we were well prepared as stated and never underestimated them in the slightest,” Beaumont said in his weekly column in the Leigh Observer.

“We knew it would be very tough and that we would need to be on our game completing our sets to get out of there with the goods and we didn’t do that whilst they did exactly what we knew they would and that was ultimately the difference.

“We were obviously disappointed with the outcome as were some players on an individual basis with their performances. Toulouse deserve everything they got from the tie and I genuinely wish them well for the remainder of the competition.

Beaumont’s praise of their opponents on Saturday did not stop there either, with the Centurions Head of Rugby saying that he would not be surprised to see Toulouse challenging at the top of the Championship in the coming years.

“It was difficult for Jukesy and Ando to review Toulouse but having now seen them play it is easy to see why they had only conceded six points in three games having scored nearly 200 in the process,” he said.

“From what I saw as a full-time team on that performance they will have little difficulty finding their way into the Championship where I also believe they will be competitive and, who knows, with further investment and recruitment a genuine challenge for the top four.”