Following Toulouse’s glorious 80-12 victory over Leicester Tigers in the Investec Champions Cup, here are our five takeaways from the game.
The top line
12 tries, 10 conversions as Toulouse ended their Investec Champions Cup pool stage in style with an emphatic victory over Leicester Tigers, scoring a point a minute.
The French outfit dominated just about every facet of the game as they swept Leicester aside with such ease, handing the Tigers their biggest-ever defeat in the competition.
Antoine Dupont, Dimitiri Delibes, Emmanuel Meafou (2), Ange Capuozzo and Julien Marchand crossed the whitewash in the first half as Toulouse raced into a 42-0 half-time lead.
Jack van Poortvliet scored early in the second half to suggest that the Tigers might just be able to make the final scoreline look a little more respectable but Toulouse quickly hit back as Capuozzo grabbed his second try of the game.
Will Hurd grabbed another consolation try before Toulouse added to the Tigers’ humiliation as Thomas Ramos, Thibaud Flament, Dupont and Matthis Lebel scored five-pointers in the final quarter to lay down an almighty statement of intent.
Tigers feel Toulouse’s wrath
Fuelled by the fury of not getting a bonus point last weekend in Durban, Toulouse lashed out with the Tigers the unfortunate victims of being in the wrong place at the right time.
This Toulouse team is arguably the finest club rugby has ever seen – the Crusaders will have something to say about that – as they set hugely ambitious goals and ones that they usually hit. Ugo Mola’s side would not have had the goal of simply qualifying for the Champions Cup knockout stages but they would have targetted top seed – far from an unrealistic goal for a team of their quality.
However, hopes of the top seeding were all but ended in Durban as Dupont and co. failed to run in four tries in their victory at a slippery Kings Park. It’s no secret that they were livid by the performance and a response was required in front of the home fans who have similarly high standards.
And boy did Toulouse deliver as after just 21 minutes, the Top 14 giants had achieved what they failed in 80 last week – score four tries. Captain fantastic Dupont set the tone with the opening try in the fifth minute with Delibes, Meafou and Capuozzo following in quick succession.
It was a statement start from the defending champions who were clearly hellbent on getting that pesky extra point as quickly as possible with the extra four coming with the win pretty much sealed up by then.
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Jack Willis
Right, let’s bang the old drum again. England have to make some sort of compromise for Jack Willis. Steve Borthwick is not short on options in his back-row with several solid international flankers but Sir Graham Henry and Sir Steve Hansen weren’t either with the likes of Sam Cane, Matt Todd, Adam Thomson, Luke Braid, Tanerau Latimer, John Hardie, Shane Christie and so on but Richie McCaw was still the first name on their teamsheets when fit.
Now, I’m not claiming that Willis is of the same standard of McCaw but quite simply, he is the best English back-rower on form in the world right now and it is a goddamn shame that he is not playing international rugby. He squared off against the excellent Tommy Reffell today but one of the number sevens undoubtedly had a better game than the other and it wasn’t the one in a Tigers jersey.
In the first half, any hint that Leicester could trouble Toulouse was emphatically denied by Willis who stalled one of their mauls and clinched two pivotal turnovers on the floor. He racked up three turnovers in total in the first 40 minutes but he is not a one-trick pony notching up a Toulouse high of seven tackles and a handy 31 metres from six carries. Throw in an offload, a defender beaten and four passes and you get the definition of all-court.
While the RFU’s selection policies block Borthwick from selecting Willis in the white jersey, there is no such restriction denying him the opportunity to pull on a different shade of red in June/July for Andy Farrell. What does stand in his way of a debut British and Irish Lions tour though is his club commitments as Toulouse are bound to be involved in the final knockings of the Top 14, on today’s evidence and their season overall.
In fact, the Top 14 final is on the same day as the Lions’ opening tour game against the Western Force which means he will miss at least two matches if he is selected with the fixture against Argentina taking place a week earlier.
But considering his recent performances, Farrell will be tempted to select the Toulouse star as quite frankly he is not only the former English forward but arguably the form Lions prospect for that number seven jersey along with Josh van der Flier.
Different class
As much as Michael Chieka has improved Leicester Tigers this season, they were no match for the pace, power and efficiency of Toulouse.
Today’s game was battled out by two teams in completely different stratospheres never mind stages in their development. The Tigers are still licking their wounds from a poor last season and rebuilding after two coaching changes in quick succession while their French opponents are double title holders who are constantly looking to improve and strengthen their squad of world beaters and it showed.
While the second-half Tigers were far better than the first, perhaps after the Chieka hairdryer treatment at the break, they still lost all the key battles on the gain-line, in the air, on transition and so on that killed any hope of a miraculous comeback.
Cheika has fast-tracked much of the Tigers’ development this season and they can hang their hat on a far improved second-half and use bits of it as a template for the rest of their campaign in their two competitions and beyond.
But today, man-to-man number 1 to 23, Toulouse were simply the superior side.
Toulouse the team to beat
Bordeaux and Leinster were ruthless and brutal in their performances this weekend as they topped their respective pools, but defending champions Toulouse are still the team to beat heading into the knockout stages.
It’s rather silly that Toulouse were still without key players like Pita Ahki, Santiago Chocobares, Alexandre Roumat and a handful of other stars today and it hardly mattered as they rampaged to their fourth Champions Cup victory.
Sure Bordeaux and Leinster have insane depth at their disposal too and a fixture involving any two of these three teams will be an all-time classic but you’d still fancy Mola’s men to come out on top.
They look exceptionally well-drilled in every single facet of the game and when they are dealt a personnel setback, the next in line is just as capable as the man that he is replacing.
Regardless of who dons that red jersey, they are well aware of what is required of them and seldom disappoint if ever. If Bordeaux and Leinster do reach the last four along with Toulouse, Mola’s men will have to fight for a place in the final away from home and while it’s tricky to win those matches, you were pressed to pick one team to do it, surely it defending champions.
Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/toulouse-v-leicester-five-takeaways-as-antoine-dupont-and-co-make-seventh-star-statement-after-humiliating-tigers-in-point-per-minute-victory
