Fax '˜up against it' after Toulouse loss, Broncos next up

Richard Marshall said his side were 'up against it' in the race for a top four finish after watching them fall victim to a rampant Toulouse side at Bloomfield Road.

Fax lost out 32-22 to the French side, but the scoreline arguably did not reflect the dominance of Sylvain Houles’ team, who now sit second on the league ladder.

Marshall’s team remain fifth, but are now two points shy of Toulouse, Featherstone and London, who they face in the capital next weekend.

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“It’s no good dancing around it; the London game next weekend is even more important now,” said Marshall, whose side had won their last seven league games before Sunday.

“We’re up against it, but we don’t want all the good things we have done over the last seven weeks to go to waste.

“This result doesn’t have to be damaging, because there are a lot of games still to play, but it will be if we let it.

“It certainly didn’t go to plan. We weren’t at our best when we probably needed to be.

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“We didn’t really have the ball for those first 10 minutes and then found we were 10-0 down.

“That’s not decisive so early in the game, but it put us in a position where we were under pressure.

“We are showing some resilience at the moment, and I was pleased with the way we came back at them in the second half.

“But they are a very good attacking team; they’re lightening quick if you give them space to play.”

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Fax’s resilience almost saw them close to within a single score with half an hour remaining, but when Adam Tangata lost the ball - or had it stolen - a metre from the line, Toulouse scored on the next play and never allowed their opponents back within striking distance.

“That was an important moment for them,” said Marshall, who conceded his side’s work with the ball has to be better, although he again highlighted his relatively limited options.

“We are not building enough pressure or spending enough time close to the opposition line.

“We’re either conceding penalties, losing possession or kicking too early.

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“Our execution in good ball has to be better as well, but all those things are linked.

“We have hammered those points home, but we’re still not getting it right.

“That either means I’m not getting the message across, the game plan needs to change or the personnel need to change.”