MARK Applegarth lauded York Knights’ composure as they moved into the Betfred Championship play-off places with a 20-12 victory at high flying Toulouse Olympique.

York were not without adversity as they secured a first win across the channel in 13 years, with both Jordan Thompson and Ata Hingano sent to the sin bin and the versatile James Cunningham pulling up with injury late on.

But their man disadvantage was rarely felt, for though the door opened for Toulouse early in the second half, their own implosion saw the Knights instead unlucky not to have added two further tries to their tally.

“They’re a solid group, and the composure that I thought we had was great,” an upbeat Applegarth explained to BBC Radio York after the final hooter. “We knew we had to be physical against a Toulouse team like this.

“Jordy going off was probably an accumulation of a number of penalties, so it was really handy to see how the group responded to that, with one of our main leaders going off the field.

“I thought that a lot of people really stepped up – Ata Hingano had a solid game, you look at Brenden Santi and some of the involvements he had, they were outstanding.

“It was good to see that from a coaching perspective, I thought that composure was excellent.”

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Despite falling behind to Anthony Marion’s seventh-minute opener, the Knights soon hit back, with winger Joe Brown flying into the right corner to score his 15th try of the season.

Nikau Williams then combined with half-back partner Ata Hingano to put the visitors in front on the half-hour, with a Will Dagger penalty handing them a 14-6 half time advantage.

Thompson’s sin bin for a high tackle threatened to open the door for Toulouse early in the second half, but though Robin Brochon seemed set to score, the ball was forced from his grasp as he was tackled by Josh Daley and Dagger, the latter running the length of the field to score to the left of the posts.

The hosts did find another way through as Paul Ulberg surged across into the left corner with 11 minutes remaining, but not even Hingano’s sin bin seconds from the full time hooter could dampen a famous evening for the Knights.

Applegarth hoped that his side would take time to celebrate their victory before flying back to England early this morning and believed they had executed their game plan superbly.

He added: “We felt that we can compete with anyone on our day in this league, so we were coming here fully expecting to put in a good performance.

“We knew if we did exactly what we had spoken about all week in terms of executing our game plan and our energy levels were where they needed to be, that we could get a result.

“I’m so proud of how the group have not only dealt with the game but handled the trip in general, I think they’ve been excellent. I hope they’ll enjoy themselves tonight, and we’ll be back at it ahead of a tough game against Batley on Sunday.

“It’s a tough win and it’s important that you enjoy the win, but we won’t go over the top. We’re not flying out until tomorrow morning so I’m sure that there’ll be a couple of lads that have a few beers, and rightly so.

“But nothing’s been won yet, all we’ve done is beaten a team that are above us and that are a quality team.

“There’ll be a few lads in there that have got over a few mental barriers – I think it’s the first win away from home for York in a number of attempts, so it’ll be really good for them to have that in the bank now.

“We’ve got to make sure that we never get too high and never get too low, and just enjoy ourselves and get ready for next week.”