Heineken Cup: Toulouse slay Dragons; Stade Francais get stage fright

06 December 2008

Three times champions Stade Toulouse were France’s only winners on a miserable day for Top 14 sides in both the Heineken Cup and the European Challenge Cup.

Last year’s runners-up turned on the style to dispatch Newport Gwent Dragons 26-7, but there were defeats for Castres, Perpignan and Stade Francais – the latter in front of a Heineken Cup record crowd of 76,569.

But while Castres and Perpignan were expected to lose - away to Leinster and Leicester Tigers respectively – Stade Francais’ 15-10 defeat to Harlequins was a hammer blow to the Paris club’s European aspirations.

Ewen McKenzie’s side started brightly enough - twice being denied an opening try by television replays in the first five minutes – but their momentum ran dry once Quins had weathered the initial storm.

The huge crowd had been royally entertained with the pre-match razzmatazz, but it was the English visitors who were sitting pretty (though not in pink) as tries from Tom Williams and Jordan Turner-Hall saw them open up a 12-0 lead after 25 minutes.

The Paris side were stunned by the ferocity of the Quins attack, with fly-half Juan-Martin Hernandez’s profligate wastefulness symptomatic of their nervy approach.

The Argentine No 10 did eventually get his side on the board with a 38^th-minute penalty, but only after man-of-the-match Danny Care had been yellow carded for a cynical foul.

It was Care’s only mistake in an otherwise outstanding performance from the England scrum-half, but it cost his side dear as Stade went on to add a converted try while he was still off the pitch early in the second half.

Number eight Juan Leguizamon was the scorer, racing in from 30 yards after a glorious inside ball from Brian Liebenberg.

The hosts continued to pile on the pressure but Quins threw everything into their obdurate defence, even extending their lead when the influential Nick Evans kicked a 68^th-minute penalty.

Tensions rose as the final whistle approached but Stade Francais were continually denied despite setting up camp in their visitors’ 22. Not even a last-minute reversed penalty on the Quins five-metre line could save them, with Dean Richards’ side holding out for an epic win in Pool 5.

It was Stade Francais’ first home defeat in a European pool match and now puts their participation in this year’s quarter-finals into serious doubt.

Toulouse, on the other hand, have no such worries after running in four tries for their bonus point win at home to the Dragons.

Yannick Jauzion, Clement Poitrenaud, Maxime Medard and Florian Fritz all got on the scoresheet as the Top 14 leaders made it three wins from three in Pool 4.

Guy Noves’ side appear to be improving with each passing week and put on a handling display to inspire during a 15-minute purple period in the second half – during which they scored three tries. The off-loading and fluidity of their play proved too much for their game Welsh visitors, and they could even afford another woeful display of place kicking by Freddie Michalak – who missed four penalties and a conversion.

But the Toulouse No 10 had an excellent game other than that, setting up three of the four tries and revelling in the quick ball provided by the ever-combative Byron Kelleher.

To their credit the Dragons refused to buckle and even managed a late consolation when Steve Jones went over in the final minute.

But it was undoubtedly Toulouse’s day, with their free-running rugby delighting the majority of the 18,695 crowd.

Perpignan missed out on a losing bonus point, but made enough of an impression to set up next week’s reverse as they went down 38-27 to Leicester.

The Welford Road faithful may have been disappointed no to see Dan Carter’s Perpignan debut, but they were treated to a highly entertaining Pool 3 contest that saw the home side outscore their visitors by four tries to two.

Leicester dominated the early exchanges and eased into a 13-0 lead after 20 minutes, with fly-half Toby Flood claiming all the points with two penalties and a deftly taken try.

A brace of penalties from David Mele reduced the arrears before Maxime Mermoz ran the length of the pitch to bring the sides level three minutes before half-time.

If the Catalans had held out until the interval it might have been a tenser second-half, but Aaron Mauger went over in the dying seconds and the Tigers were once more ahead.

Flood kicked two more penalties shortly after the restart but just when Perpignan looked set to fade they ran in try number two courtesy of flanker Ovidio Tonita. Mele added the conversion to leave it 26-20, but Jordan Crane and Matt Smith then hit the visitors with a five-minute double, effectively ending the match as a contest.

Perpignan kept battling until the end, even earning a last-minute penalty try to set up next week’s clash as a mouth-watering prospect.

Castres were France’s other Heineken Cup representatives, but the Top 14 strugglers were hammed 33-3 by Leinster, with the Irish side running in three converted tries in their Pool 2 encounter.

With Biarritz and Montauban losing on Friday night (see report) it means five out of six French sides have tasted Heineken Cup defeat this weekend, with Clermont at home to reigning champions Munster tomorrow (Sunday).

Over in the European Challenge Cup there was more French misery with Mont-de-Marsan losing 15-21 at home to Viadana and Bayonne going down 6-16 at home to Saracens.

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