News

Toulouse pull clear in France

November 28 2008

Toulouse are clear at the top of the Top 14 after a convincing 32-11 win over Bayonne at the Ernest-Wallon on Friday.

Fred Michalak opened the scoring after just three minutes after Toulouse's pack had made mincemeat of Bayonne's vaunted scrum.

The home side tore into the game with a terrorising tempo, using the entire width of the pitch to launch attack after attack, and for the first five minutes Bayonne did little else but tackle.

The Basques dug in though, and some territorial kicking got them into a scoring position. But for a nasty shoulder charge by Florian Fritz on Julien Puricelli - which went completely unpunished - they might have reaped the benefit.

Toulouse's scrum continued to dominate - pulversie might be a more appropriate word - and they eked out another penalty after 12 minutes for Michalak to extend the lead.

Bayonne, clearly frustrated by the lack of any ability to lay a hand on the ball, frequently resorted to fisticuffs as a form of resistance. It wasn't pretty, but it was effective in a way. Certainly Toulouse found their rhythm disrupted, and despite 20 minutes spent almost entirely in the opposition half, that 6-0 lead was all the men in black had to show.

The off-ball spats continued unabated, despite the very best efforts of referee Jerome Garces, and eventually Rob Linde was sent to the bin for punching Yannick Nyanga. Remy Martin was lucky not to follow two minutes later for as professional a kill of the ball as you will ever see, and Michalak made it 9-0.

Michalak made it 12-0 after 33 minutes, again with a penalty awarded for a high tackle. The recently-returned star missed five kicks at goal and was booed by his home supporters a fortnight ago, but he revelled in each and every opportunity this time.

Manny Edmonds put the visitors on the scoreboard with a long penalty given for an offside after Maxime Medard had spilled a high ball.

But that merely preceded the inevitable, as Clement Poitrenaud scored the first try Bayonne had conceded in 397 minutes of rugby, taking the ball blind side off Kelleher after Pepito Elhorga had also spilled a high ball.

Michalak missed the conversion, but made it 20-3 with another penalty early in the second half as Toulouse continued to dominate.

A scorching Craig Gower break against the run of play turned the tide a bit. The break earned a penalty for Edmonds to make it 20-6, and Bayonne enjoyed their best spell, with the boot keeping Toulouse penned in their own half and Bayonne's forwards pressing well in the loose skirmishes. The entire Aviron front row was changed as well, to try and shore up the tight set pieces.

Nothing came of it though, and on 65 minutes Toulouse once again turned the screw in the scrum, with Byron Kelleher diving over off the back of it under the posts.

That was it for the match as a contest, but Bayonne did manage to deny the home side the bonus point, scoring a try of their own through Benjamin Lhande with seven minutes to go.

Virgil Lacombe put Toulouse 21 points back in front at 32-11 with two minutes to go after a trademark break from Cedric Heymans, but there was no bonus-point flourish.

The scorers:

For Toulouse:

Tries: Poitrenaud, Kelleher, Lacombe

Con: Elissalde

Pens: Michalak 5

For Bayonne:

Try: Lhande

Pens: Edmonds 2