Whitehaven's head coach reflects on Toulouse defeat

The West Cumbrian side came away with a 40-4 defeat, however, head coach Jonty Gorley was still pleased with his team's performance. 

Mr Gorley said: "We set off really well, we should have been 12-0 up after ten minutes but we knocked on over the line twice and on the second one Toulouse went down and scored. 

"Toulouse scored seven tries and six of them were after our errors with three of them we should have been scoring but we didn’t, and they scored the next set. 

"We had plenty of chances, but we just weren't clinical enough, at this level you've got to take your chances. 

"We've had quite a lot compared to what we've had the past couple of games, but we just didn't take them, we took one out of maybe eight or nine chances, and at this level, you just can't do it. 

"That was the story of the game, they took their chances, and we didn't take ours and they were able to capitalise on it. 

"It was encouraging, I know people might say about the scoreline being 40-4 but I don't think it reflected how we played, we got them over a few times but just couldn't finish."

Jonty explained that he doesn't think that the long journey to France affected the players and said that the team had plenty of time before traveling on Friday to play on Saturday afternoon. 

He says that it's good for the team to get away as a group and spend time with one another. 

Mr Gorley continued: "Toulouse are a good side and they're clinical. They finished their chances, and we didn't finish ours.

"We've got a tough game coming up next weekend as we take on Featherstone. They've got some good players so it's going to be another challenge for us. 

"If we manage to get chances against Featherstone, we need to make sure that we convert them. 

"Defensively, we scrambled well, and our edges defended better at the weekend so we need to carry on with that as well. 

"There are positives to take out of the game and we just need to take them into this game on Sunday."