Preview: Toulouse Olympique vs Leigh Leopards - Prediction, team news and lineups

Toulouse Olympique will be eyeing up just their fifth win of the Super League season when they welcome the Leigh Leopards to the south of France this Saturday afternoon.

Both teams enter the fixture on the back of defeats, with Leigh desperately needing a victory to keep pace with their playoff rivals.

Match preview

Boasting the worst home record in the competition, Toulouse have only managed one victory out of seven games in front of their home fans.

The bulk of their points this season have come on the British shores, with the French outfit managing three away successes, including a couple of recent victories against the Huddersfield Giants and Hull FC.

Despite this, the last two weeks have been tough for the French team given their defence has endured an almighty collapse in matches against Leeds Rhinos and Castleford Tigers.

Sylvain Houles watched his side ship a total of 84 points across those two games, losing 48-24 against the Rhinos and 36-18 away at the Tigers.

Toulouse did not concede as many points in their four matches prior combined, which underlines their need for an improved defensive display this Saturday against Leigh.

Speaking of the Leopards, the last meeting between these two teams ended in a thrilling 21-20 victory for the English side back in March - the only head-to-head meeting in seven years.

The Leigh Leopards saw their three-match Super League winning run come to an end following a 22-8 defeat away at Hull KR.

Failure to beat one of the top six teams has now left Leigh sitting four points adrift of the playoff spots - a gap that could grow if they fail to collect all two points in Toulouse.

The pressure is on for the Leopards to deliver a result, but they will be buoyed by the fact they won four of their last five away matches - including a 33-18 success away in Perpignan at the start of May.

Putting their defeat to Hull KR aside, Leigh have done well when it comes to scoring points in recent weeks, putting 38 points past Bradford Bulls, 24 past Castleford Tigers and even 42 against Hull FC.

On top of that, the Leopards boast the best defensive record outside of the top six, having conceded just 304 points across their 15 matches this season.

Toulouse Olympique Super League form:

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Leigh Leopards Super League form:

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Team News

In a massive boost for the hosts, Olly Ashall-Bott returns to the Toulouse squad, with the player hoping to make an immediate impact.

On the other hand, key forward Mathieu Jussaume is forced to drop out, which could cause the hosts a few problems.

Due to the plethora of injuries this season, Leigh have not been able to name their strongest backline this entire season.

That will continue to be the case in France as the Leopards travel for the game without Keanan Brand.

Overall, the injury situation has been improving, with Umyla Hanley and Tesi Niu marking their returns to the squad last week, and Josh Charnley set to join them this Saturday.

Adrian Lam also welcomes back Owen Trout and Ben McNamara, while Ryan Brown drops out of the 21-man squad.

Toulouse Olympique 21-man squad:
Ashall-Bott, Ulberg, Rennie, Laguerre, Lacans, Shorrocks, Belmas, Hands, Roumanos, Stefani, Marion, Cator, Butler, Tropis, Wallace, Gillam, Pons, Rouge, Chan, Quai-Ward, Toleafoa

Leigh Leopards 21-man squad:
Armstrong, Niu, Hanley, Charnley, Cook, Lam, Ofahengaue, Ipape, Mulhern, Halton, Trout, Liu, Pene, Alick-Wiencke, Davis, Horne, Hodgson, Senior, O’Brien, McNamara, Brogan

We say: Toulouse Olympique 18-24 Leigh Leopards

Toulouse showed a bit of fight in the last 25 minutes against Castleford Tigers last week, but it was too little too late.

The hosts cannot afford another poor start, but that will be easier said than done against a strong Leigh Leopards side. Given how well they have done on the road, we are backing the visitors to earn a big win.