Heineken Cup review: A spirited Connacht side made Toulouse battle all the way before the reigning French champions eventually sealed a bonus-point 24-3 victory in Pool Six.
It may have been Connacht’s 14th successive defeat but they will take a lot of encouragement from this display at the Stade Ernest Wallon.
The Connacht scrum was in all sorts of trouble in the opening half and that undid a lot of great work with Toulouse getting half of their eight first-half penalties on their own scrum. But it was obvious from the outset that Eric Elwood’s men were going to make the French battle for it and they should have hit the front after just five minutes. However, the kicking frailties which have hindered Connacht all season were once again evident as Niall O’Connor hit the left-hand post from a straightforward 25-metre attempt.
O’Connor gave Connacht a surprise lead after 15 minutes when he landed a penalty from 40 metres. The score followed a late tackle by Thierry Dusautoir on Tiernan O’Halloran which led to a dust-up in midfield.
Toulouse only got into the Connacht 22 twice in the opening half but they scored two tries off these forays and it took a superb tackle by a fired-up Ray Ofisa on Luke McAlister to prevent what seemed an inevitable try.
Nevertheless, Toulouse hit the front at the end of the opening quarter. They put in a superb drive off a line-out on the right, and the attack finished with Fiji Sevens international Timoci Matanavou touching down Maxime Medard’s grubber kick.
McAlister missed the conversion but created the second try for Medard with a pinpoint cross-field kick after Medard had made a fine break.
In between, Connacht countered well but the closest they came to scoring was when Dave McSharry went inside and got smothered with his captain Gavin Duffy cutting a good line outside him. That left it 10-3 at the break but Toulouse turned the screw after the restart with 20-stone Samoan tighthead Census Johnston leading the charge.
They pounded the Connacht line for several minutes early on in the second half. The pressure finally told with number eight Louis Picamoles getting their third try with a tap and go after another infringement by the visiting pack.
Lionel Beauxis, who replaced Florian Fritz at the break, added the conversion from the right to make it 17-3. But Connacht hit back with O’Halloran superb on the left wing and they again took the game to Toulouse.
The home crowd started getting frustrated when it seemed that they would not get a bonus point, but 10 minutes from time Matanavou got in for his second try down the left.
Beauxis again added the difficult conversion to put further daylight between them but it was Connacht who finished the game on the offensive.
The Irish province will now hope to wrap up their maiden season in the Heineken Cup by defeating Harlequins next Friday in Galway, and they will go into that clash with plenty of confidence after this gutsy display.
Northamptonproduced a superb second-half fightback to end the Scarlets' Heineken Cup quarter-final hopes in a Pool One thriller at Parc y Scarlets.
The Welsh side needed to win to stay in the hunt for a best runners-up spot and had the better of the first half as a try from wing Vili Iongi plus nine points from fly-half Rhys Priestland helped them to a 14-6 interval lead. But Northampton's renowned forward power changed the complexion of the game after the break as tries from Soane Tonga'uiha and Ben Foden, supplemented by Stephen Myler's 17-point haul, saw them secure a fifth win in a row in all competitions in a scoreline of 17-29.
Bath's disappointing European campaign continued as they slumped to their fourth defeat in five matches after going down 24-22 against Montpellierfollowing a last-gasp try.
Bath had looked set for victory as two tries from lock Ryan Caldwell helped put them 22-17 ahead going into the final minute, but Montpellier snatched their first-ever Heineken Cup win when Timoci Nagusa went over for a score that was converted by Martin Bustos Moyano.
Matt Banahan also crossed for Bath while Alex Tulou and Pierre Berard scored the hosts' other two tries.
The result leaves Bath bottom of Pool Three on seven points, with Montpellier moving into second spot, level on 10 points with Glasgow but having played a game extra.
Clermont Auvergneran in 12 tries to thrash Italian whipping boys Aironi82-0 in their Pool Four match at Stadio Brianteo to keep alive hopes of a place in the quarter-finals.
The French side raced ahead with some early scores and were already 47-0 in front at the break.
Wingers Sitiveni Sivivatu and Julien Malzieu completed their hat-tricks in the second half, with Brock James kicking seven conversions to add to four from Morgan Parr.
Full-back Lee Byrne scored a brace, while Alexandre Lapandry, James and Elvis Vermeulen also touched down as the French side collected a bonus point ahead of next weekend's home clash with pool leaders Ulster.
Leicesterare facing an early exit for only the fifth time in 15 Heineken Cup campaigns after they were battered into submission and suffered a club-record 41-7 European defeat to Ulsterat Ravenhill on Friday night.
The Tigers now cannot win Pool Four - which offers an automatic quarter-final place - after Ulster moved six points above them ahead of next weekend's probable group decider against French heavyweights Clermont Auvergne.
Tigers will need a bonus point victory over Italian strugglers Aironi at Welford Road to give themselves any chance in the race for two best runners-up spots, yet teams in other pools appear better placed.
Leicester were undone by two first-half tries from Ireland international wing Andrew Trimble, while Ulster's South African scrum-half Ruan Pienaar put the boot in with five penalties and three conversions for a 21-point haul before wing Craig Gilroy and replacement Paul Marshall added late tries.
The Ospreyskept alive their hopes of reaching the quarter-finals of with a six-try romp as they defeated Treviso44-17 at the Liberty Stadium.
The hosts had secured the bonus point after just six minutes of the second half as a penalty try added to Ashley Beck's first-half brace and Tommy Bowe's interception score, with replacement Kahn Fotuali'i and a second penalty try completing the scoring as fly-half Dan Biggar kicked 12 points.
Phil Godman kicked a last-minute drop-goal for Edinburghto clinch a 27-24 victory over Racing Metroand keep them at the top of Pool 2.
In a delicately poised group Edinburgh grabbed their second victory on the road to keep the pressure on Cardiff Blues as they hunt for their first quarter-final spot in eight years.
Backrow trio Ross Rennie, Netani Talei and David Denton all crossed as the visitors led for the majority of the game. But Racing responded with three tries of their own and looked set to share the spoils before Godman struck to clinch only Edinburgh's second victory on French soil.
