Toulouse 22 Leicester 11:Even the freezing fog drifting across the river Garonne could not fully obscure a depressing result for Leicester. At the very least they needed to return home with a bonus point to prevent French league leaders Toulouse taking an iron grip on Pool Six, but, ultimately, the English challenge blew itself out after a rumbustious first hour. While the maths remains complex, even bonus-point wins against Leinster and Edinburgh may now be insufficient to sneak the Tigers through.
It was always asking a lot to expect a repeat of last week's 14-9 home victory over a Toulouse team who have lost just six times in the Pink City in 42 European Cup matches. Seldom has French revenge been dished up this cold, with temperatures in the south of France barely rising above zero apart from a brief spell in early afternoon, but there is a rosy glow about Toulouse this year.
The sight of a clearly pumped-up Byron Kelleher putting himself about in the closing moments underlined the depth of Toulouse's resources and, more pertinently, they looked mentally and physically sharper in more areas.
Leicester are clearly still feeling their way forward under the new regime of Marcelo Loffreda.
Only fleetingly did the visitors look like sidestepping a first defeat in seven games against French opposition dating back more than two years. The front five toiled manfully, with both props doing a lot of work in the loose, but Ben Kay and Martin Corry found themselves cast in much the same unglamorous rearguard roles they filled for England during the World Cup.
The return to the backrow of Lewis Moody also added energy, but Loffreda did not sound overly optimistic about his team's chances of making it through to the last eight: "It's very difficult and it's no longer dependent on our results. But we have two more games to play and anything can happen."
The former Argentina coach also acknowledged his team had been beaten by a side who had "surprised us" and "played better than us".
No Leicester side will be short of guts, but away from Welford Road they are short of guile and snap at halfback and Aaron Mauger has yet to settle in. Yesterday Dan Hipkiss started the match at inside centre with very mixed results and looked happier when the All Black centre came on inside him.
If Leicester were slightly fortunate to edge home in the mud and rain of the English midlands, they retained a deserved foothold here until the final quarter. A protracted early defensive effort was required to restrict Toulouse to a Valentin Courrent drop-goal, and it was a surprise when the Tigers registered the first try after 16 minutes. Tom Varndell's purposeful finish in the right corner capitalised on the initial yardage gains of Marcos Ayerza and Jordan Crane.
Toulouse responded almost immediately with a classical score stemming from the same quick, front-of-the-lineout ploy that Wasps employed to undermine the Tigers in last season's European final. The moment Cedric Heymans exploded into the line from the left wing there was an inevitability about Clement Poitrenaud's long-striding burst past the trailing cover, but the slickness of the move still had a certain clinical beauty.
A scudding drop-goal from Jean-Baptiste Elissalde was less sexy, but at 11-5 down the Tigers suddenly found themselves being squeezed once again in Toulouse's powerful coils.
Physically, they did their utmost. The home side began to complain about off-the-ball bodychecks, and Florian Fritz, in particular, went down like a deceased sack of spuds after running into the big Fijian wing Seru Rabeni. When Courrent tried something similar, Irish referee Alan Lewis felt it necessary to warn them against further theatricals.
It was an old-style Garryowen that led to Toulouse's match-clinching score by Vincent Clerc after 63 minutes. Geordan Murphy gathered the high ball but the home side turned it over and came pouring forward. There was still plenty to do by the time Clerc received the ball wide on the right but the French international wing, like Varndell, is a born finisher.
Darting and spinning out of two tackles he was driven over to the satisfaction of the video referee, and the Tigers seldom looked like hitting back.
TOULOUSE: Poitrenaud; Clerc, Jauzion, Fritz (Kunavore, 73 mins), Heymans; Courrent, Elissalde (Kelleher, 78 mins); Human, Servat (Lacombe, 73 mins), Hasan (Perugini, 69 mins), Pelous (capt), Albacete (Millo-Chlusky, 12 mins), Nyanga (Medard, 78 mins), Dusautoir, Sowerby.
Tries: Poitrenaud, Clerc. Pens: Elissalde 2. Drop-goals: Courrent, Elissalde.
LEICESTER: G Murphy; Rabeni, Smith, Hipkiss, Varndell (Mauger, 64 mins); Goode, F Murphy (B Youngs, 75 mins); Ayerza, Chuter (Kayser, 75 mins), Castrogiovanni, Hamilton, Kay, Corry (capt), Moody, Crane.
Try: Varndell. Pens: Goode 2.
Referee: Alan Lewis (Ireland).
