PARIS: Four-time European champions Toulouse remained unbeatable at their Ernest-Wallon fortress this league season with a 19-12 victory over Top 14 leaders Clermont on Sunday.
A mouth-watering match-up between the most successful team in French rugby history and the current consensus best in the business promised much, particularly during an intriguing first period, but ultimately failed to live up to expectations as it petered out into a turgid second half.
The win, though, was crucial for Toulouse as they moved up to fourth in the table with a ninth home win out of nine this season, offsetting their appalling away form that has seen them lose every one of seven trips.
“It’s good to beat the leaders Clermont during this period where we weren’t playing very good rugby,” said Toulouse captain Thierry Dusautoir.
“That gives us a boost before the visit of Saracens (in the European Cup next weekend).”
Such was their struggle to breach Toulouse’s impregnable defence that Clermont seemed to settle for a losing bonus point that took them three-points clear of second-placed Stade Francais.
It was a disappointing end to what promised so much in a blistering opening.
With a clever hitch-step, wing Yoann Huget found a gap down the side of a ruck, on the inside of cumbersome lock Julien Pierre, before flipping the ball inside to Maxime Medard to go over next to the posts on 12 minutes for the only try of the match.
Although Huget’s pass bounced a couple of yards in front of where he’d let go of the ball, before Medard picked it up and went over, the video referee applied the new rules, allowing the score to stand as Huget’s hand movement had been in a backward direction when he released the ball.
That try, converted by fly-half Jean-Marc Doussain, was sandwiched by two penalties from visiting No.10 Brock James, giving the hosts a 7-6 lead.
It was a brutally entertaining contest with maximum commitment from all sides, emphasised by a huge, crunching tackle by former All Black Benson Stanley on Huget.
The closest Clermont came to a try was in the 28th minute as centre Wesley Fofana made a break in the Toulouse 22, only to be hauled down a metre short by centre Clement Poitrenaud when a pop pass to his outside would surely have yielded a try for Stanley.
AFP
