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Toulouse have to beat Gloucester at Kingsholm on Friday night to guarantee they finish top of Pool 6 and an incredible 14th Heineken Cup quarter-final appearance this season. - 18/01/2012 17:20
Toulouse have to beat Gloucester at Kingsholm on Friday night to guarantee they finish top of Pool 6 and an incredible 14th Heineken Cup quarter-final appearance this season.
The four times champions, who won European rugby’s premier tournament in 1996, 2003, 2005 and 2010, will be under no illusions of the task facing them in the West Country on Friday night.
The two sides, who had never faced each other before this season, but the Premiership outfit will be looking for revenge after their narrow 21-17 defeat in France in the first game of the Pool.
Pool leaders Toulouse know a win will secure their qualification for the knockout stages but they must get at least a draw on English soil as that will mean they will beat rivals Harlequins on the head-to-head ruling if they end on the same points.
The Cherry and Whites cannot qualify for the Heineken Cup knockout stages or the Amlin Challenge Cup quarter-finals and have nothing to play for but pride in the final game of their European campaign.
Deux essais inscrits par l'homme du match Jonny May bouclent cette rencontre palpitante sur la pelouse de Kingsholm alors que Gloucester Rugby empoche une victoire convaincante contre le Stade Toulousain. - 20/01/2012 22:15
Two tries from Man of the Match Jonny May rounded off a thrilling encounter at Kingsholm as Gloucester clinched a 34-24 victory over Toulouse.
The hosts were already out of the running for a quarter-final spot whilst four-times Champions Toulouse arrived in England looking to progress into the knock-out stage for the 13th time.
Defeat left their hopes hanging on Connacht claiming a first ever victory in the competition and that’s exactly what they did, defeating Harlequins in Galway to send Toulouse into the last eight.
The Cherry and Whites got off to the worst possible start losing prop Nick Wood to the sin-bin in the first minute, but the Kingsholm crowd were soon cheering as Jonny May grabbed the game’s first try just two minutes later.
Fly-half Freddie Burns launched a huge up and under which Toulouse failed to deal with and Timoci Matanavou’s attempted clearance from inside his own in-goal area was charged down by May who then pounced on the ball to score.
But the scores were soon level as Toulouse captain Thierry Dusautoir had the easiest of run-ins. Dusautoir, playing in his 50th Heineken Cup match spotted acres of space around the edge of a ruck and darted clear to touch down.
Nine minutes later and Toulouse had doubled their score, Matanavou running in down the right flank after Toulouse attack had confused the Gloucester midfield, creating room for the Fijian sevens star on the wing.
As with the first try Lionel Beauxis added the extras with the conversion and he then kicked a 17th minute penalty to stretch his side’s lead.
There was still time for a fourth first-half try at Kingsholm as May linked up with Charlie Sharples on the right wing to send Gloucester speeding into the Toulouse twenty-two and after coming close through Alasdair Strokosch, the ball was recycled wide to Akapusi Qera who touched down.
It was again the combination of May and Sharples which fired Gloucester into the lead early in the second period. The Toulouse defence struggled to cope with the pace of the duo as they attacked down the flanks and a simple two on one saw Sharples sprint over.
A stunning break from Beauxis carved Gloucester’s defence apart and once in behind the Cherry and Whites a try looked inevitable. Simple quick ball and slight of hand created the room for Matanavou to grab his second.
A Burns penalty pushed Gloucester back into the lead with seven minutes remaining and Kingsholm then erupted as May clinched the victory five minutes before time with his second score.
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