Heineken Cup review: Toulouse scramble last-ditch victory against Bath

12 October 2008

Three-times champions Toulouse needed a last-ditch penalty from David Skrela to snatch an 18-16 home win against Bath in the opening round of Heineken Cup matches.

It was a result that typified an indifferent weekend for French clubs, with Clermont, Castres, Biarritz and Montauban all losing. Stade Francais looked convincing in beating Ulster, and Perpignan were comfortable winners against Treviso, but Toulouse were fortunate to get the win in what could be a vital result in Pool 5.

Last year’s beaten finalists looked to be heading for a shock home defeat when Bath full-back Nick Abendanon went over for a 78th-minute try, but Butch James missed the conversion – his second of the afternoon – allowing Skrela his late winner with the last kick of the game.

The Toulouse fly-half kicked all of his side’s points, courtesy of six penalties, but coach Guy Noves will be concerned that his charges were outscored by two tries to nil on their home turf, usually such a fortress in European competition.

Bath refused to be intimidated by their opponents’ reputation and stayed true to their attacking intentions throughout. They trailed 9-3 shortly after half-time when South African scrum-half Michael Claassens scored the game’s opening try, and looked to have nicked the victory when Abendanon added his own late score.

But Skrela underlined why he is currently the Top 14’s most accurate place-kicker and saved La Ville Rose from opening day blushes in front of the weekend’s biggest crowd (31,885).

In Pool 6’s other match the Newport Gwent Dragons beat Glasgow Warriors 32-22 at Rodney Parade.

Struggling Castres were put to the sword in the other Sunday afternoon clash, going down 25-11 to Wasps in Pool 2 at Adams Park.

The London side made light of their poor start in the Guinness Premiership to race into a 20-3 half-time lead, with tries from Paul Sackey and Tom Voyce.

Brawling duo Josh Lewsey and Danny Cipriani - who had a training ground bust-up during the week – then combined to good effect to produce Wasps’ third try, with Cipriani kicking two conversions and a brace of penalties to seal the win.

Castres and France captain Lionel Nallet did manage to cross the line for the visitors before the end, but Wasps were never seriously threatened as captain Raphael Ibanez enjoyed victory over one of his former teams.

Edinburgh lost 16-27 at home to Leinster in the other Pool 2 match.

Much-fancied Stade Francais made it eight wins from eight as they beat Ulster 26-10 at Ravenhill in Pool 4.

The Top 14 leaders cruised into a 16-0 half-time advantage with mercurial Argentine Juan Martin Hernandez, playing at fly-half this week, very much to the fore.

First he sent over a ninth-minute drop goal to open the scoring before looping with Simon Taylor to create the first try for centre Guillaume Bousses.

The Argentine added another drop-goal before the interval – this time for 40m – and full-back Lionel Beauxis also contributed a penalty and conversion as the gap was extended.

Ulster, bottom of the Magners League, battled hard with extended periods of possession but lacked the cutting edge, or swiftness of ball, to break Stade’s well organised defence.

Niall O’Connor finally got the home side on the board with a 49th-minute penalty but the Parisians’ reply was swift and decisive, with Dimitri Szarzewski going over after a barrelling run from 20-year-old Matthieu Bastareaud.

The 17-stone centre was a constant threat after replacing Bousses and underlined why he’s currently attracting so many plaudits in France.

Beauxis converted and added his own drop goal to end the match as a contest, with Stade 26-3 up, but at least Ulster finished on a high when Danny Wallace raced through to ground O’Connor’s clever grubber kick.  

It was Stade’s first win at Ravenhill in five attempts, prompting praise from their new Australian coach Ewen McKenzie. “We came here with history against us, and it was always going to be a challenge to turn that around. I told the players before the game to go out and make history, and they did that,” he said afterwards.

Llanelli Scarlets surprisingly lost at home in the other Pool 4 match, going down 22-29 to Harlequins.

It was friends re-united at the Stade Marcel Michelin on Saturday, with Sale coach Phillipe Saint-Andre back at the club where he played for nine years before crossing the channel.

And the Manchester outfit gleefully lapped up the home team’s generous hospitality to record a crushing 32-15 in front of more than 15,000 spectators, a victory that could prove fatal to their Heineken Cup ambitions.

With man-mountain Sebastien Chabal also to the fore there was a distinct French flavour to the Guinness Premiership outfit, although they also owed a big thank you to former All Black Luke McAlister, who scored a try, three conversions and two penalties.

The try count – 4-0 in favour of Sale – summed up the Sharks’ greater bite, with Clermont relying on the boot of Brock James for all 15 points despite enjoying plenty of possession off the back of their dominant scrum.

His penalties kept them in a tense game and there was still just five points between the sides before Sale scored twice in the closing minutes with tries from Rudi Keil and former England winger Mark Cueto sealing victory and a precious bonus point.

David Doherty had earlier scored Sale’s other try, legging it down the left wing in the 11th minute as the English side quickly opened up a 0-13 lead.

Clermont now face a massive battle to qualify for the quarter-finals from a group also including Munster, who beat Montauban 19-17 on Friday night (see report).

Sale coach Saint-Andre was understandably jubilant after the win, describing his team’s performance as “the best I’ve seen since we won the Premiership final”.

He added: Now we have to put in two big displays back to back by beating Munster [their next opponents]. If we win here and lose at home the work we did here will count for very little.”

Ill-discipline cost Biarritz dear as they conceded a succession of penalties in their 19-10 away defeat to Gloucester in Pool 6.

The eventual penalty count was 18-7 in the Cherry and Whites’ favour, with the Basque visitors also losing Jerome Thion for a crucial 10-minute spell before half-time, during which Gloucester scored their only try.

Biarritz’s English flanker Magnus Lund was culpable for the first two penalties, which Olly Barkley kicked calmly to put Gloucester 6-0 up within 10 minutes.

Julien Peyrelongue dropped a goal to cut the deficit but the French side were continually penalised for spoiling tactics, conceding a further three points on the half hour when Thion was yellow-carded for lying on the ball.

By that time the home side had already been reduced to 14 men themselves after Olly Morgan took out Damien Traille in the air, but the Kingsholm crowd (11,723) urged the home side on as they made light of the disadvantage.

Morgan returned the fray immediately after Barkley’s third successful penalty, paving the way for a period of sustained pressure that eventually brought James Simpson Daniel’s try – his 18th in 27 Heineken Cup games – on the stroke of half time.

Barkley duly converted for the hosts to take a 16-3 advantage but was at fault when Biarritz hit back three minutes after the interval as Romain Cabannes brushed past his attempted tackle before setting up Jean-Baptiste Gobelet for the try.

Peyrelongue’s conversion reduced the gap to just six points and both sides then missed a penalty each before Barkley slotted over from the 10m line on 55 minutes. The home side continued to push for a second try but had to settle for just three more points – this time a 77th-minute Ryan Lamb penalty – as they sealed what was ultimately a comfortable win.

Biarritz’s Australian coach Jack Isaac admitted his team had lacked discipline but said he was “very, very disappointed” with the refereeing.

“We felt there were a lot of things noticed on our side which didn’t get noticed on theirs. We saw a lot of inconsistency out there in regard to many things,” he added after the match.

Cardiff Blues beat Rugby Calvisano 56-20 away from home in the other Pool 6 match.

Perpignan, like Montauban, were in action on Friday night, beating Treviso 27-16 at the Stade Aime Giral as they got their campaign off to a winning start in Pool 3. Leicester Tigers beat the Ospreys 12-6 at home in the group’s other match, on Sunday afternoon.

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