Toulouse crowned champions again
Sat, 22 May 2010 20:21
French club Toulouse - the reigning Heineken Cup champions
Toulouse were able to withstand a late surge by Biarritz to win 21-19 and claim a record fourth Heineken Cup title at the Stade de France in Paris on Saturday.
Neither side wanted to make a costly mistake early on and it was a battle of the kickers in the first half with Dimitri Yachvili and Davis Skrela trading blows.
The match was a physical affair up front and both teams weren't going to take a step backwards, with a good example being Shaun Sowerby ripping Imanol Harinordoquy's much talked about facemask off shortly after half time.
The Toulouse scrum put them on the front foot throughout the game, as they dominated the set piece, with Jean-Baptiste Poux giving Campbell Johnstone a working over. As the match went on the Biarritz scrum crumbled and left them needing to find a different avenue of attack.
Biarritz will be pleased with their work in the lineout, where honours were even and Imanol Harinordoquy in particular did some sterling work.
For much of the game it was about getting into an attacking position and waiting for a mistake from the defending side, as both sides goal kickers were kept busy throughout the game.
Early in the second half Maxime Medard spilled a pass close to the tryline after a strong build up by Toulouse and their best try scoring opportunity went begging.
Toulouse really started to dictate the pace of the game and put a strangle hold on it as their pack of forwards steam rolled Biarritz in the scrums and Skrela added a timely drop-goal while his side were a man down, with Patricio Albacete cooling off in the sin bin.
The only try of the game was scored by Biarritz centre Karmichael Hunt in the 75th minute and came out of the blue to set up an exciting finish to what wasn't the most exciting match.
Biarritz drew first blood after Imanol Harinordoquy was pulled down in the lineout and Yachvili picked up where he left off in the semifinals, with the penalty and great strike made it 0-3.
The lead was doubled after 15 minutes by Yachvili with another penalty after the scrum collapsed and the Toulouse front row were adjudged to be the guilty parties (0-6).
In the 20th minute Harinordoquy was penalised for a high tackle and a long range 52 metre kick by Florian Fritz put Toulouse on the scoreboard (3-6).
The battle of the kickers continued and it was Yachvili's turn again to nail a difficult penalty and extend the lead after Fritz had put in an illegal tackle without using his arms as he knocked Arnaud Mignardi to the ground (3-9)
The Biarritz scrum disintegrated under immense pressure from Toulouse, who were awarded a penalty and Skrela made no mistake to make the score 6-9 after 32 minutes.
Skrela locked the scored up at 9-all in the 36th minute with an outstanding penalty from 40 metres out along the right hand touchline.
From an attacking platform Fritz dropped back into the pocket and fired a drop-goal off the upright and over the crossbar to make the score 12-9 heading into half time.
In the 48th minute Benoit August chips forwards and made a great chase, and kicked the ball forwards again before being tackled by Patricio Albacete without the ball. The Toulouse lock was yellow carded for the foolish tackle. Yachvili knocked the resulting penalty through the polls (12-12)
Despite being down to 14 men Toulouse added three more points through Skrela's boot after their forwards carried the ball up field allowing the flyhalf enough time to put a drop-goal over and regain the lead for Toulouse (15-12).
Toulouse started to take control of the game and dictate the pace, before Skrela took aim and stabbed through another drop-goal (18-12).
An attack out wide from Clément Poitrenaud and Vincent Clerc came close to being the first try of the match, but hands in the ruck from a desperate Biarritz defence gave Skrela another chance to extend the lead from the kicking tee (21-12).
Biarritz took a free-kick quickly and the ball went out wide to Mignardi, who was able to pass inside to Takudzwa Ngwenya, who drew the last defender before putting Karmichael Hunt away for the try. Valentin Courrent added the conversion to make the score 21-19 with six minutes left on the clock.
Toulouse ran down the clock just as it was starting to look like Biarritz might snatch the title away from their in the dying moments of the game.
The dynamic backline that Toulouse possess wasn't unleashed due to the tight nature of the game that called for a forward-dominated performance.
Man of the match: Biarritz never gave up and Imanol Harinordoquy, Iain Balshaw and Magnus Lund certainly gave their all. David Skrela and Florian Fritz score all of Toulouse's points and both Shaun Sowerby and Thierry Dusautoir were exceptional at the breakdown, but the power of Jean-Baptiste Poux in the scrums made a big difference in swinging all the momentum the way of Toulouse.
The scorers
For Toulouse:
Pens: Fritz, Skrela 3
DGs: Fritz, Skrela 2
Yellow card: Albacete
For Biarritz:
Try: Hunt
Con: Courrent
Pens: Yachvili 4
Teams
Toulouse: 15 Clément Poitrenaud, 14 Vincent Clerc, 13 Florian Fritz, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 11 Maxime Medard, 10 David Skrela, 9 Byron Kelleher, 8 Shaun Sowerby, 7 Thierry Dusautoir (captain), 6 Jean Bouilhou, 5 Patricio Albacete, 4 Romain Millo-Chluski, 3 Benoit Lecouls, 2 William Servat, 1 Jean-Baptiste Poux.
Replacements: 16 Alberto Vernet Basualdo, 17 Daan Human, 18 Census Johnston, 19 Yoann Maestri, 20 Louis Picamoles , 21
Jean-Baptiste Elissalde, 22 Yann David , 23 Cédric Heymans,
Biarritz: 15 Iain Balshaw, 14 Takudzwa Ngwenya, 13 Arnaud Mignardi, 12 Karmichael Hunt, 11 Jean-Baptiste Gobelet, 10 Julien Peyrelongue, 9 Dimitri Yachvili, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 7 Wenceslas Lauret, 6 Magnus Lund, 5 Trevor Hall, 4 Jérôme Thion, 3 Campbell Johnstone, 2 Benoit August, 1 Eduard Coetzee.
Replacements: 16 Romain Terrain, 17 Fabien Barcella, 18 Rémy Hugues, 19 Manuel Carizza, 20 Florian Faure, 21 Valentin Courrent, 22 Philippe Bidabe, 23 Ayoola Erinle.
Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)
Assistant referees: Dave Pearson (England), Chris White (England)
By Timmy Hancox
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