Top 14: Stade Toulousain keep 'double' hopes alive with 35-12 victory over Castres

08 May 2010

Stade Toulousain 35 (14)
Castres 12 (6)
Le Stadium

Heineken Cup finalists Stade Toulousain kept up hopes of a European and domestic double after seeing off Castres 35-12 in their Top 14 play-off quarterfinal.

The south-west giants outclassed their opponents from start to finish, running in four unanswered tries as they emphasized the gulf in class between regular trophy-winners and championship wannabes.

It was the proverbial men against boys at times, with the vanquished visitors ending battered, beaten and a man down as their frustrations finally got the better of them.

Toulouse got off to just the start they wanted when full-back Maxime Médard - one of eight team changes from their win over Leinster - went over for the game's opening try after just four minutes.

The side-burned winger finished off a sweeping counter-attack which was initiated when Grégory Lamboley recovered a knock-on by Castres flanker Yannick Caballero.

Scrum-half Byron Kelleher took the ball from Lamboley on the inside before Médard rounded Marc Andreu to touch down. Fly-half Jean-Baptiste Elissalde kicked the conversion, although he was subsequently off target with an eighth-minute drop-goal attempt.

The frenetic opening pace was maintained by both sides, but whereas Toulouse appeared to be revelling in the speed of the match Castres seemed numbed, with four knock-ons in the opening quarter of an hour as they failed to settle.

A second try for the hosts was almost inevitable, and it duly arrived after 16 minutes when winger Vincent Clerc powered over in the corner after a surging ruck had taken Toulouse to within five metres of the line. Kelleher then released Yannick Jauzion, with the France centre passing on for Clerc to finish the move.

Elissalde was on target again - this time from the corner - to put the 17-time champions 14-0 ahead.

Castres did finally get on the board when full-back Romain Teulet kicked a 40m penalty halfway through the opening period, but Elissalde replied in kind on 27 minutes to re-establish the 14-point margin.

Toulouse continued to dominate in the scrum but Castres enjoyed more luck at the lineout, and it was from one such set play that they earned their second kickable penalty of the half, which Teulet - Top 14's leading scorer - nonchalantly slotted on 32 minutes, to leave the visitors 14-6 down at the break.

Teulet was on target again two minutes after the resumption as Toulouse threatened to let ill-discipline undo their earlier attacking play.

With Castres' confidence increasing Toulouse coach Guy Noves then addressed his team's failing lineout play by replacing William Servat with Argentine hooker Alberto Vernat-Basualdo, while another three points from Elissalde gave them further breathing space.

Teulet's fourth penalty success, on 56 minutes, kept the visitors in the hunt, but Elissalde replied in kind (from the corner) on the hour mark. It proved to be the French international's last contribution of the afternoon as he then gave way to Florian Fritz, with Yannick Jauzion moving across to take the fly-half position.

Five minutes later and the game was effectively over as a contest when Clerc raced in for his second try of the afternoon after excellent build-up play which featured an initial break from Yann David, before swift hands from Médard and recent signing Vilimoni Delasau set up the Stade Toulousain winger in the corner.

Fritz's conversion attempt sailed wide, but by then Toulouse were an uncatchable 28-12 ahead, with thoughts already turning to next weekend's semi-final against defending champions Perpignan.

There was still time for Toulouse to put icing on the cake when young centre Yann David cruised in for their fourth try of the afternoon with 10 minutes left, although their celebrations were cut short when a fight broke out after Caballero unnecessarily elbowed David after he touched down.

When calm returned it was Uruguayan Rodrigo Capo-Ortega who was singled out for punishment, with the Castres lock getting sin-binned to further handicap his frustrated team-mates.  It was an unseemly end for a Castres side which had battled so hard all season to make their first appearances in the play-offs for a decade, but it served to underline what the quality of Stade Toulousain can do to a side when it finds its rhythm.

Whether they can repeat their form against a rested Perpignan remains to be seen, but you wouldn't bet against it.

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