Connacht 23
Toulouse 21
Sean Farrell reports from the Sportsground
JOUER! IT’S THE word which perfectly surmises the traditions of French and Toulouse rugby, but in Galway tonight, Connacht proved themselves the embodiment of the word in modern rugby.
Play! Play! Play!
Pat Lam issued an early concern this week that Toulouse’s weight advantage made it possible that his side could be ‘squashed.’But despite having to fight back from, first, a nine-point and 10-point deficit, this brilliant western outfit stuck to their game and claimed a Champions Cup win that was as deserved as it will be famous.
Tries from Niyi Adeolokun, Tiernan O’Halloran and Bundee Aki sealed victory, but they are merely the headline names on a tremendous display of a team’s work ethic and gameplan ethos.
The ‘squashing’ fears looked well-founded in the first 10 minutes when handling errors gave the visitors the scrums to put them on the front foot.
It was Ultan Dillane’s muscular bursts on the left wing that helped Connacht get a foot-hold in the game after French scrum pressure had helped the visitors into a 9 – 0 lead with just 12 minutes on the clock.
Ugo Mola’s side managed to repel Connacht’s first meaningful set of phases, but while the scrum was back-pedaling, Dillane and Andrew Browne made sure the line-out was a potent weapon. Dillane stole a line-out on his own 22 and that thrilling Connacht counter-attack kicked into top gear.
Aki slipped Craig Ronaldson through a gap. He returned the ball to Aki who stormed across halfway and fed Caolin Blade before Ronaldson came within an inch of finishing off the try. The damage was done though, and a quick recycle allowed Adeolokun put his name to an absolutely brilliant coast-to-coast score.
Carty miss the conversion, but Connacht continued to own the momentum with ferocious breakdown clear-outs and excellent footwork in contact and the out-half soon had two penalties to his name with his team in an 11 – 9 lead.
The introduction of 34-year-old stalwart Gregory Lamboley seemed to light a fire under Toulouse and they rediscovered their ability to play incisive running rugby, combining powerful carries with slick passing before Yann David found his way into the left corner.
Having erased an early nine-point gap, Connacht found themselves 11 – 21 points down by the halfway mark as the defence was again stretched by powerful carries on the right leaving Jean-Marc Doussain had the easy task of running underneath the posts.
Toulouse did a pretty good job of tightening the game up in the game’s third quarter and the sight of their forwards high-fiving after making their way to the bench before the hour mark reflected what they thought was a comfortable position. However, against Connacht, you can never get comfortable. Never.
The scything lines of Kieran Marmion, excellent hands of Ronaldson and a big impact from Sean O’Brien off the bench helped them set up camp in the opposition territory and Tiernan O’Halloran pulled the deficit back to five points with a gorgeous show and go on the hour.
From there on in, strangely, it felt inevitable that Connacht would force the breakthrough.
The wonderful Westerners hammered into white shirt after white shirt. Toulouse didn’t lose interest, they just had no answer to the absolutely relentless energy from Lam’s men.
Eventually the pressure told and Aki hit a popped pass on the perfect angle on a run to the corner. The almighty roar that greeted the touchdown was only matched by the cheer that followed Ronaldson’s flawless touchline conversion.
There was still some hanging on to do, and Toulouse made Connacht work in their own 22 to see out the game. But see it out they did, and the sight of the ball sailing into the stands on the dot of 80 minutes inspired an emotional pitch-invasion from supporters who are getting used to success as an antidote to all those years of heartbreak.
Scorers
Connacht
Tries: N Adeolokun, T O’Halloran, B Aki
Conversions J Carty (0/2) C Ronaldson (1 /1)
Penalties: J Carty (2/2)
Toulouse
Tries: Y David, JM Doussain
Conversions: S Bezy (1/2)
Penalties: S Bezy (2 /3), F Fritz (1 /1)
Connacht
15. Tiernan O’Halloran (S Ili ’65)
14. Niyi Adeolokun
13. Bundee Aki (Shane O’Leary ’73)
12. Craig Ronaldson
11. Cian Kelleher
10. Jack Carty
9. Caolin Blade (K Marmion ’45)
1. Finlay Bealham (Ronan Loughney ’68)
2. Dave Heffernan (Shane Delahunt ’55)
3. Conor Carey (JP Cooney ’51)
4. Ultan Dillane (L Stevenson ’72)
5. Andrew Browne
6. Eoin McKeon (Sean O’Brien ’55)
7. Jake Heenan
8. John Muldoon (captain)
Toulouse
15. Maxime Medard
14. Yoann Huget
13. Florian Fritz (Toby Flood ’68)
12. Yann David
11. Paul Perez
10. Jean Marc Doussain
9. Sebastien Bézy
1. Cyril Baille (Vasil Kakovin ’41)
2. Christopher Tolofua (Julien Marchand ’47)
3. Census Johnston (Dorian Aldegheri ’47)
4. Richie Gray (Gregory Lamboley ’30)
5. Joe Tekori (Edwin Maka ’55)
6. François Cros
7. Piula Faasalele (Talalelei Gray ’55)
8. Carl Axtens
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