Toulouse 23 Leicester 9:ENGLISH CLUBS have made a half-decent start to this season's Heineken Cup but reality tapped Leicester firmly on the shoulder yesterday.
Toulouse took a long time to locate any rhythm yet were never in serious danger of letting down their adoring, drum-pounding supporters on a wet, grey afternoon.
Several Leicester players, not least the scrumhalf Ben Youngs, had games to forget. Composure at key moments was conspicuously lacking and the gulf in attacking quality, not least when Toulouse’s 18-year-old centre Gael Fickou was involved, was glaring. The youngster marked his Heineken Cup debut with a stunning individual try two minutes before half-time and looks to have a stamp of genuine class about him.
No wonder Richard Cockerill, Leicester’s director of rugby, wore a deflated expression afterwards. Fickou’s score from turnover ball was a pivotal moment, as was Youngs’s costly decision to tap and go early in the second half when a kickable penalty was on offer. An agonising knock-on duly snuffed out the opportunity and Cockerill could not disguise his dismay.
“We can’t have these impetuous moments. If you’re loose against good sides they’re going to punish you.”
Leicester were second best in most areas. If there were times, particularly early on, when Toulouse attempted too much champagne stuff on a real-ale kind of day, the Tigers were not strong or cute enough to take advantage.
Starting with Thomas Waldrom at openside flanker and Jordan Crane at eight was a calculated gamble against a side with as much pace as the French champions and Youngs’s day went from bad to worse. Toulouse are not entirely unbeatable beside the River Garonne, as Harlequins proved last season, but that reverse remains their only defeat in their past 44 games in their home city.
Apart from an early aberration by Clement Poitrenaud, whose clearance kick fell straight to Toby Flood 15 metres out and forced a brave, head-banging cover tackle from Yohann Huget, there were precious few try-scoring opportunities for either side in the opening half hour, with Toulouse’s defence not required to sweat unduly.
While three immaculate Flood penalties gave his side a hint of optimism, there was always a sense that the visitors were on borrowed time.
A couple of minutes before half-time the turning-point duly materialised, even with Toulouse down to 14 men with Gurthro Steenkamp in the sinbin. Not for the first time the greasy ball slipped from the fingers of Waldrom and Fickou seized upon it, putting in a cunning little chip behind the cover. In theory the coltish centre had no right to regather the ball first but his long limbs took him past Anthony Allen, the ball sat up nicely and Scott Hamilton never had a chance of retrieving the situation.
The interval score of 11-9 was scarcely insurmountable but keeping the intensity up for 80 minutes proved impossible. The pressure steadily mounted, an increasing number of mistakes crept in and the Tigers found themselves trailing by 14 points at the start of the final quarter. McAlister is not necessarily the world’s most reliable marksman but when he hits a hot streak the Kiwi can make the art of kicking look deceptively simple.
Toulouse are able to make the game look similarly effortless when the momentum is with them and the last quarter of an hour became a question of damage limitation. The Leicester scrummage began to splinter and retreat and their opponents’ fire-power off the bench began to tell. McAlister took his tally to 18 points and the only surprise was his team did not score any further tries. Leicester’s failure to secure a losing bonus point means they can ill-afford the slightest slip-up against the Ospreys at Welford Road on Sunday.
TOULOUSE: Poitrenaud; Clerc, Fritz, Fickou, Huget (Matanavou, 76); McAlister, Doussain (Burgess, 72); Steenkamp (Poux, 58), Botha (Tolofua, 58), Johnston (Guillamon, 76), Millo-Chluski (Albacete, 58), Maestri, Nyanga (Bouihlou, 58), Dusautoir (capt), Picamoles (Lamboley, 72). Sin bin: Steenkamp 29.
LEICESTER: Hamilton; Morris, Tuilagi, Allen, Goneva; Flood, B Youngs; Mulipola, T Youngs, Cole (Castrogiovanni, 59), Kitchener (Slater, 59), Parling, Mafi, Waldrom, Crane (capt).
Referee: N Owens (Wales).
