European Cup / Pool Six / Wasps 15 Toulouse 15: Not for the first time in the history of high-profile games between the pride of England and France the sting was in the tail.
Wasps are still alive at the bottom of Pool Six but the controversial climax to yesterday's scrappy potboiler in High Wycombe may yet come back to haunt the English champions when the qualifying calculations are done in mid-January.
Judging by the shake of the head from Lawrence Dallaglio on the touchline, it was not a unanimous decision to kick the equalising penalty awarded to the home side eight minutes into injury time when the Toulouse front row collapsed a scrum attempting to defend their 15-12 lead. When Mark van Gisbergen slotted the angled kick to secure a draw and two points in the table, home supporters barely knew whether to laugh or cry.
By choosing not to go for a scrum and the try that had eluded them for the previous 87 minutes Wasps will now have to live with the consequences. Two points for a draw are self-evidently better than one for losing narrowly but this result still leaves them effectively needing to win in Toulouse in the new year. No side has succeeded in Toulouse's backyard in Europe for five years, which means Wasps remain in danger of failing to make the knockout stages for the second successive season.
Such are the slim margins of tournament qualification that Wasps' brains trust still seemed to be in two minds afterwards whether they should have played more of a gambler's hand. Ian McGeechan, their director of rugby, revealed that, with Dallaglio off the field, he had instructed the stand-in skipper, John Hart, to go for the posts because it would mean Wasps still "had it all to play for" in their remaining four pool games.
Dallaglio, however, described it as "one of those 50-50 calls" upon which the jury would remain out. "It may end up being the right or wrong decision and people might sit back and say it was wrong," he said. "But if Toulouse lose and we get maximum points from the rest of our games, who knows what will happen? We don't want to be in a position in the final week of pool matches when not kicking a penalty has cost us qualification."
Dallaglio, upon reflection, also suggested the odds on Wasps scoring from that final scrum were no better than 10 per cent and referee Alain Rolland would have been a brave man to award a penalty try against the European champions if they transgressed again. The bottom line, as everyone accepted, was that Wasps have not played well enough in their last three matches to complain too loudly about anything.
If the late drama was not quite of the magnitude of Clement Poitrenaud's howler at Twickenham 18 months ago that earned Wasps the Heineken Cup under Stade's noses, neither was the rugby anything like the same standard as on that sun-splashed day.
Toulouse, through their scrum-half Jean-Baptiste Elissalde and Cedric Heymans, missed 14 points with the boot and both sides' lineout work was on the shaky side of moderate. England's management will also have been less than reassured by a recurrence of the lock Simon Shaw's back trouble and that Van Gisbergen, Andy Robinson's potential fullback against Australia, had another uncertain afternoon.
To his credit he did not let it affect his marksmanship. "On the big occasion he has never let us down and he kicked the money ball when he needed to," said Dallaglio supportively.
There was no denying, however, that pre-match expectations were largely overtaken by reality. The RFU's national academy manager, Brian Ashton, reckoned that, had a Martian seen the opening round of Cup games, he would have asked why Toulouse appeared to be playing a different game from everyone else.
Yesterday was a much more down-to-earth affair, never less than competitive but short on inspiration.
There were exceptions, most of them on the Toulouse side; Jean Bouilhou and Trevor Brennan got through a mountain of work and there are few better centres in the world these days than Yannick Jauzion.
Toulouse's first-half try, however, had more than a tinge of fortune about it, Wasps coach Shaun Edwards insisting Elissalde had taken a quick tap penalty "about seven yards away from the mark" before Brennan applied what he would call an educated boot and Gareth Thomas got to the loose ball ahead of Alex King.
At least Stade's second try, by Vincent Clerc, was a picture-perfect collective classic, but Wasps, if nothing else, retained their battling qualities.
Although King was as uncertain as Van Gisbergen at times and missed three drop-goal attempts, Toulouse could not shake them off even after Frederic Michalak landed a neat 55th-minute drop-goal to put them ahead once more.
Then, Van Gisbergen put Paul Sackey away for a surging 75-metre run deep into French territory to set up the final drama.
WASPS: Van Gisbergen; Sackey, Lewsey, Abbott, Voyce; King, M Dawson; Payne, Ibanez, J Dawson; Shaw, Birkett; Hart, O'Connor, Dallaglio (capt). Replacements: Skivington for Shaw (half-time); Bracken for M Dawson (69 mins); Rees for Dallaglio (71 mins); Brooks for King (80 mins).
TOULOUSE: Thomas; Clerc, Jauzion, Fritz, Heymans; Michalak, Elissalde; Poux, Bru (capt), Hasan; Pelous, Brennan; Bouilhou, F Maka, I Maka. Replacements: Poitrenaud for Fritz (60 mins); Millo-Chlusky for Brennan (61 mins); Nyanga for I Maka (69 mins); Dubois for Elissalde (76 mins); Lamboley for Pelous (78 mins).
Referee: A Rolland (Ireland).
Guardian Service
