Toulouse Olympique lifted France’s Lord Derby Cup for the first time in the club’s 70-plus year history on Sunday, easily dispatching 2012 champions AS Carcassonne 46-10 in the Stade Albert Domec, Carcassonne.

Under a hot Spring sun the home side got off to the best possible start, with winger Alexis Escamilla scoring a converted try in the 8^th minute. The Canaries’ fans in the almost 7000-strong crowd were on their feet again on 16 minutes when referee Mohamed Drizza awarded a contentious try to give the “Jaune et Noir” a 10-point advantage.

The Toulousains hit back with a spectacular 40-metre run from fullback Mark Kheirallah in the 23^rd minute. The Lebanese-Australian would cap a decisive, man-of-the-match display with a hat-trick of tries and six goals. Florian Quintilla scored five minutes later, with Kheirallah’s conversion giving TO a lead they would not relinquish. Captain Sebastian Planas’s 32^nd minute try gave his side an 18-10 interval lead.

The at times tetchy second half saw Toulouse defending their line stoutly while an increasingly frustrated Carcassonne’s discipline began to fray. Two tries in the final three minutes gave the score a lop-sided look unreflective of what had been a tightly contested match.

Toulouse coach Sylvain Houles said, “Some of our players are out on their feet, but the game-plan worked well.” His opposite, Jean-Francois Albert, said, “It was a good match, we started well but then Toulouse exploited all our mistakes.”