Kelleher - Relieved Toulouse will learn from
mistakes
13 October 2008
 There
was no doubting which game was dominating the sports pages
after a frantic opening weekend in the Heineken Cup, with
Toulouse’s last-kick win against Bath providing food for
thought for both sides.
Midi-Olympique, France’s
rugby newspaper, simply ran a headline ‘Ouf! Toulouse’ after
David Skrela’s touchline penalty saved the home side from
defeat.
Bath looked to have the
match won when Nick Abendanon broke through to score two
minutes from time but Skrela’s sixth successful kick
snatched victory for Toulouse, prompting plenty of
reflection from the three times champions.
Scrum-half Byron Kelleher,
the current Top 14 player of the year, acknowledged that
Toulouse – who were outscored by two tries to nil – must
improve if they want to add to their three Heineken
triumphs.
“We started slowly and we
aren’t happy with our performance. We have to improve,” said
the former All Black.
“We struggled to get any
rhythm in our game. It was really stop-start and that made
the game really difficult for us. It was a difficult match.
They stuck to their guns, and made it difficult for us.
“There was a lot of
pressure on us to win but we’ve got plenty of time left in
the competition to go away and improve on it.”
Butch James, Bath’s South
African fly-half, said his colleagues were heartbroken by
the defeat but would learn from their mistakes.
“We all thought we’d done
it when Nick Abendanon got the try, but we played for 79
minutes and 59 seconds and lost our concentration for one
second and it cost us the win,” he reflected ruefully.
“Either side would have
won the game but we played a lot of rugby and if we’d won
it, we would have deserved it.”
James, who missed two
conversions and a penalty, added: “Our heads are down the
dressing room and there’s a mixture of anger and
disappointment in there – disappointment that we didn’t win
and anger because we know we threw it away at the end.
“But the bottom line is
we’re leaving here a better side for this experience. If
we’re in the same position again we won’t make the same
mistake and we’ll close the game out.”
The Guinness Premiership
leaders, who entertain Newport Gwent Dragons next week, were
also praised by Toulouse coach Guy Noves for their attacking
approach.
“They (Bath) are fond of
this type of game and the fact they played up to the fans in
the first half completely confounded our players,” he said
afterwards.
But he denied his team had
been second best, despite their last-minute penalty and a
lack of tries. “I don’t think Bath were really any better
than us but we have to learn lessons from this match,” he
added.
“We looked to play in the first half and the
chat in the changing rooms during the break was focused on
our deficiency in this. We were more intelligent in the
second half.”
But his counterpart Steve
Meehan felt his side were harshly dealt with by the referee.
“There were a few odd
decisions out there, notably the one where Toulouse were
given a defensive scrum in front of their own line after
Butch James was taken out by Yannick Jauzion,” he said.
“I’m disappointed for the
players because we came here to play good rugby and they
deserved that, scoring two tries and keeping Toulouse from
crossing our line,” added Meehan.
Toulouse, who know they must up their game to guarantee
qualification, travel to Glasgow for next week’s match.
Meanwhile, Castres’ Irish
coach Mark McCall praised his team’s efforts after their
25-11 defeat away to Wasps on Sunday.
“At 20-3 we could have
caved in but we showed a lot of spirit. We were very pleased
that we did that. It gives us a real eye opener for our
players as to the kind of level Wasps played at today,” he
said.
“We started the season
with 15 or 16 of the 32-man squad unavailable, which is more
normal for the end of the season than the start. Gradually,
they’re all coming back and I think one of the reasons we
were so blown away physically in the first half was that a
lot of our players were playing their first fixtures.
“We’ve got some very
important French Championship matches coming up and we need
to get some momentum built into our season. On the back of a
fighting performance today, we need to try and get a win at
home against Edinburgh behind us. We’ll try and give it
everything for the rest of our matches,” he added.
• Clermont have signed South African prop Jacobus Roux as a
wildcard replacement for three weeks following the injury
which has sidelined Martin Scelzo.
• Toulon’s Czech winger
Martin Jagr, who has been sidelined since the opening week
of Top 14, could make his injury comeback on Saturday. The
speedster is pencilled in to play for his national side
against Croatia in Prague. If all goes well he should then
return for Toulon’s league clash with Castres.
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