Toulouse eye cup progress

Toulouse Olympique coach Gilles Dumas is likely to be without Rory Bromley, Tim Wynn, Constant Villegas and Ged Corcoran as he chases a victory that could take the Frenchmen into the last eight of the Northern Rail Cup.

Olympique are currently one point adrift of the top four, but third placed Dewsbury face fourth placed Barrow in a fixture that could open the door for Toulouse to sneak through.

Dumas’ team won 36-22 at Keighley last week, but the Toulouse coach was not happy. He said: “There was no discipline and the score didn’t reflect the game.”

However, London Skolars’ coach Joe Mbu was delighted with his side’s 16-16 draw with York.

Mbu said: “I was certainly pleased with the boys’ performance, but I was a little bit down because that game was there for us to win.

“We certainly felt we should have won, but it gives us confidence. We didn’t do what we wanted to do at Doncaster, but we came back, played a Championship team who have got great players with Super League experience, and should have beaten them.”

Mbu, whose squad is likely to remain unchanged for the trip to France, hopes his players will now believe they have the skills to take on anybody.

He said: “If there were any doubts at all, the players now understand they just need to keep working hard and doing what we’re doing.

“This week it’s a great occasion for the boys. We’ll get spirit from travelling together, and we’ll need a different level of focus and concentration. It will be different, but it’s a great learning curve for the boys.”

On Toulouse, Mbu added: “They front up really hard in the middle, they usually play with a lot of force and power, and the backs play with a lot of flair. That’s true throughout the French league.

“They’re going to tough, big, aggressive and come at us with some shape. They’ll test our defence and structure, and it will be good to see how we react.”