Connacht Outgunned By Toulouse In Galway

Maxime Médard’s first half brace of tries set Toulouse on their way to a 37-9 bonus point victory over ‘flu-hit hosts Connacht at the Sportsground.

VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS: CONNACHT 9 TOULOUSE 37

Guy Noves’ star-studded side avenged last Sunday’s shock reversal at home, with Médard, Christopher Tolofua, man-of-the-match Louis Picamoles and replacement Gael Fickou all crossing the whitewash in Galway.

Tolofua crashed over late in the first half to leave Connacht 22-9 behind at half-time, the province’s only points coming from the boot of out-half Dan Parks (a penalty and two drop goals).

A neat lineout move put Picamoles through for his try and with Connacht unable to respond, Beauxis added another penalty and converted Fickou’s closing effort for a 12-point personal haul.

The win keeps Toulouse on course for another quarter-final place, leaving them level on 15 points with chief rivals Saracens at the top of Pool 3.

A ‘flu bug disrupted Connacht’s preparations and both Nathan White and Frank Murphy were late withdrawals from the replacements bench.

But they made a very positive start with Robbie Henshaw and Rodney Ah You carrying with intent, and Parks powered home a penalty from 44 metres out.

Toulouse responded through the boot of Beauxis and used turnover ball to grab the game’s opening try, Médard hacking on a kick through from Beauxis and beating Eoin Griffin to the touchdown.

The successful conversion was cancelled out by a snap drop goal from Parks after Toulouse failed to gather the restart. The gap remained at 10-6 as Beauxis slid a scrum penalty narrowly wide.

Connacht had enough territory to cause problems but they could not get their attack firing, and Parks missed a penalty effort from inside his own half.

From the restart, Beauxis created the opening for Medard’s second try. The number 10 caught the Connacht defence flat with a pinpoint cross-field kick and Medard muscled past Henshaw’s initial challenge to dot down on the left.

Home prop Brett Wilkinson went close from a lineout maul, the Toulouse defence coming under increased pressure before Parks ensured a three-point return with another crisply-struck drop goal.

Right on time, the French side’s forwards upped the ante and their power set up strong-carrying hooker Tolofua for a deserved try, following two bulldozing runs from number 8 Picamoles.

Beauxis added the extras for a 22-9 lead at the interval as they quelled Connacht’s fire, showing ruthless efficiency especially with those telling kicks.

The second half was scoreless until Toulouse worked a short 55th minute lineout, Tolofua linking with Yannick Nyanga who sent Picamoles powering through Fionn Carr’s tackle to score in the left corner.

The concession came at the worst possible time for Connacht as Parks’ replacement Craig Ronaldson injured his hamstring before the lineout. Academy player Darragh Leader replaced him.

Toulouse’s counter-attacking threat was in full view again on the hour when Médard was inches away from his hat-trick – Connacht centre Griffin did brilliantly to deny him in a foot race.

Henshaw and Carr threatened briefly for the westerners, however Beauxis’ second penalty and a terrific solo effort from halfway from Fickou finished off a satisfying night’s work for the four-time European champions.

Speaking afterwards about his squad’s disrupted preparations, Connacht head coach Pat Lam revealed: “No doubt Toulouse are a good side, but I am so proud of my team. Their heart was probably more than last weekend after the week they have had,” he explained.

“We had Kieran Marmion on a drip 48 hours ago in hospital and then (fellow scrum half) Frank Murphy going down, so then we put Paul O’Donohoe back and then he went down too, so we had no half-back.

“We had to see how far Kieran could go. To get 80 minutes from Kieran after that was unbelievable, Dave McSharry we only saw today, unbelievable. Right throughout the team the heart was unbelievable.”

He added: “When you see them (the Toulouse players), they are about 5kgs bigger than others, but the boys kept putting their bodies on the line.

“I am an extremely proud coach. Even with two minutes to go the crowd kept the boys going and they kept trying, so what I asked was for them to do was front up heart wise and commitment wise, and it was even better than last week.”