Toulouse Olympique held off a fierce Oldham comeback to claim a 30-18 Championship victory at Boundary Park, but the French side’s triumph came at a heavy cost for the home team as star centre Jumah Sambou suffered a potentially serious hamstring injury in his return match.

The Roughyeds trailed 24-2 early in the second half before mounting a spirited rally that brought them within six points, with Matty Ashurst scoring twice and Nathan Lowe adding another try to ignite hopes of an unlikely victory. But Toulouse sealed the result on the final play when Olly Ashall-Bott completed his hat-trick to dash Oldham’s comeback dreams.

Sambou’s injury marred what had been his highly anticipated return from a seven-match ban, with the centre being helped from the field after a tackle that enraged the Oldham coaching staff. The setback compounds the club’s growing injury list ahead of next weekend’s 1895 Cup semi-final against Featherstone, with captain Jordan Turner already sidelined with a knee problem.

“A lot of teams would have fallen away from Toulouse in the second half when they were 24-2 up so to come back and have some fight in us showed heaps of character in this team,” Oldham coach Sean Long told Roughyeds TV. “We have got to believe in each other now because we are a very good team.”

Thomas Lacans and Ashall-Bott, who finished with three tries, spearheaded Toulouse’s first-half dominance as they built a 24-6 advantage. But Oldham’s refusal to surrender, with makeshift centre George Hirst filling in admirably for the injured Sambou, demonstrated the resilience that Long believes will serve them well in their upcoming cup clash.

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