"A semi-final that makes a mockery of the league": Toulouse v York City Knights match report and player ratings

They spend all year striving against adversity, against the odds and against some very good League One teams to get into the play-offs and have a shot at glory.

And then this. A farce. A play-off semi-final that makes a mockery of the whole competition.

It ended 62-10 to Toulouse, a lopsided scoreline but one which does Ford’s brave troops no justice and tells little of the story of this madcap play-off format or of the madder-cap past few months at York, yet is a direct end product of both.

Cutting to the chase, it was 17 v 12 in blazing heat, so what did anyone expect? A magnificent 17 at that, full-time table-toppers, against a doughty dozen.

Forget the result, a foregone conclusion. Only praise can be aimed at those 12 players who flew this city’s flag into battle knowing they were in for a hiding.

No criticism can be aimed at Ford either, a head coach who has displayed baffling amounts of integrity over the past two years in the face of what must seem like never ending strife off the field.

But the fact is York had only 12 men, not even the 13 that had initially been announced. Less than the bare minimum. It’s Sunday League stuff, not professional sport.

Indeed they finished with only ten fit bodies at the end, Mark Applegarth and Brandon Westerman limping through the second half. Not even a full Sunday League team.

Will the Rugby Football League take note?

They will have known about it, given Ford and his assistant Chris Spurr both asked for special dispensation to turn back the clock and don the boots given the emergency circumstances. Both applications were rejected.

Some players were injured, but here’s the crux - several others were unable to get the necessary time off work to travel. It was the same last time they came here with 15 players for the Super 8s fixture at short notice.

Additionally, maybe one or two didn’t feel like missing a day’s pay this time, not after all that’s gone on. Russ Spiers, the 13th name on the team sheet, couldn’t travel after apparently losing his passport.

There is mitigation. After all, they had nothing to play for after the RFL declared only three days earlier that the club were ineligible for promotion due to ground issues – the latest knock-on effect of the off-field circus that has drained everybody.

Of the uncertainty that has drained the life out of the team’s promotion challenge.

There was pride to play for, yes, as Spurr had spoken about in the build-up.

But, at this part-time level of rugby, pride doesn’t pay the bills. Why miss two days’ pay for virtually a dead rubber? Why risk the sack for bunking off to France?

Those that did turn up must have looked at each other boarding the plane and wondered whether to get straight back off.

Still, either they came with 12 knowing the integrity of the competition would be damaged. Or they forfeited the game and ruined its integrity entirely. There was only one choice for Ford and co.

To that end, the RFL surely should look into this play-off format when part-timers and foreign teams are involved.

This is the pinnacle of the season, the games people have been striving for since starting out in pre-season the previous winter. All clubs who make it should be able to showcase their best teams in intense contests.

Not struggle to book time off when they discover they need a long weekend in France and then play out what at times had the air of a practice run.

What on earth will happen next year with Toronto in the league, when a team have to pop to Canada for a semi-final? And that’s before you consider jetlag.

It wasn’t long ago folk bemoaned Sunday treks to Cumbria.

It’s also easy to question the timing of the RFL’s announcement that the Knights couldn’t go up even if they won the play-offs.

To suggest it wouldn’t have affected anyone is nonsense. Of course it would.

Why didn’t the RFL wait until the outcome of this semi-final?

York were underdogs as it was and the scoreline could well have allowed the governing body, the Knights and the game as a whole to avoid this embarrassment.

If the decision had to be made public, why leave it until two days before the team were due to travel?

Conspiracy theorists immediately contemplated the notion it provided Toulouse - whom many in the corridors of power would like to see in Super League - more straightforward passage to promotion. Not that their coach, Sylvain Houles, wanted such circumstances.

Good luck to him and them – an entertaining team on the field, and a well-run club off it.

Ironically when you consider the Knights’ situation, they too have left their traditional Stade des Minimes home so it can be redeveloped into an arena fit for Super League, only for the local council to seemingly stall on the work.

But, for whatever reason, they haven’t encountered the ground issues Ford and co have endured for two years, instead being able to enjoy sharing a rugby union stadium up the road.

Luckily, Stade des Minimes hasn’t been demolished either so they could return there for this semi-final given their landlords needed that shared pitch.

They’ll be back here next week, too, for the play-off final, after tries by Tony Maurel (2), Kane Bentley, Mark Kheirallah (2), the brilliant Kuni Minga (2), Rhys Curran, young talent Gavin Marguerite (2) and Etienne Ferret, a cruel interception effort, brought them their straightforward semi-final win. The accomplished Kheirallah added nine goals.

They were pretty loose at times, though, circumstances allowing them to be risky, and they will need to tighten up next week.

For York, Jonny Presley busied himself as the sole half-back, Mike Emmett led the way up front, big Brett Waller visibly dug deep. They all dug deep.

Okay, they missed a few tackles and forced a few passes when eyeing a quarter-chance. But so what.

James Haynes tested the generosity of referee Chris Kendal when diving over the whitewash with the score at 0-0 having been tackled just short, but Kendal was having none of it and blew for a double movement.

However the daring dozen did score in fine fashion when 18-0 behind, Ed Smith bravely taking Jonny Presley’s precise chip and touching down despite a big collision with Kuni Minga. That was the game’s only try for 22 minutes of evenness.

They came close a few other times, too, and, amid seven second-half home tries, got further reward with a regulation Kriss Brining effort from dummy-half.

The hooker had gained the field position by winning a penalty and, at the end of the set, he was clearly going to go himself. As has been his wont all season, he got over.

MATCH FACTS

Toulouse: Kheirallah, Maurel, Marguerite, White, Minga, Ford, Ferret, Boyer, Bentley, Canet, Planas, Curran, Marion. Subs (all used): Kriouache, Masselot, Hepi, Mika.

Tries: Maurel 7, 57; Bentley 10; Kheirallah 14, 68; Minga 36, 66; Curran 50; Marguerite 52, 76; Ferret 71.

Conversions: Kheirallah 7, 10, 14, 36, 50, 57, 66, 68, 76.

Knights: Haynes 10, B Dent 10, E Smith 10, Hey 10, A Dent 10, Presley 10, Applegarth 10, Brining 10, Waller 10, Tonks 10, Westerman 10, Emmett 10. Subs: none.

Tries: E Smith 22; Brining 63

Conversions: B Dent 63.

Man of the match: Kriss Brining – the Salford-bound hooker showed why he is destined for higher tiers. A handful for Toulouse and their extra man, he provided excellent distribution from dummy-half and notched his regulation try – something York fans will miss when he’s gone.

Referee: Chris Kendal (Huddersfield) – could have been a bit kinder to York given the circumstances but no real complaints.

Penalty count: 3-5

Weather: south of France hot and sunny.

Half-time: 24-4

Attendance: 2,000 est

Moment of the match: Ed Smith brilliantly and bravely caught Jonny Presley’s well-placed chip and touched down York’s first try despite a huge collision with Kuni Minga.

Gaffes of the match: the draining off-the-field carry-on over the past couple of months, the RFL’s play-off system for part-time players meaning some couldn’t get time of work, the untimely announcement that York couldn’t go up anyway, and perhaps one of two players not doing their utmost to be available, albeit understandable in the circumstances.

Gamebreaker: all the above.

Match rating: the brave Knights did their best to make a game of it, while Toulouse again played in good spirit and, in all fairness, deserve to get promoted after the season they’ve had.