The Exiles went into the match having lost influential fly-half Riki Flutey to a leg injury suffered in Saturday’s captain’s run. Replacement Barry Everitt lasted until halftime, and backline general Mike Catt limped off in the 42nd minute.

Smith said: “We’ve got a lot of quality players in the medics’ room at the moment, and we just have to see who we’ve got left for a game against Bath in six days’ time. We’re doing it tough.

“You can’t lose players like Riki Flutey before kick-off and Barry Everitt and Mike Catt at halftime and not be affected by it. Considering everything, I was heartened and impressed by our performance – we were simply beaten by a better team.”

Exiles fullback Delon Armitage gave the visitors a perfect start with a try after only 60 seconds, but traffic soon started going the other way. Yannick Jauzion and Xavier Garbajosa bagged tries in the first quarter, with regular goals from Jean-Baptiste Ellisalde giving the home side a 20-7 lead after barely as many minutes.

Everitt’s penalty goal chipped into the lead, but Toulouse went into the break with a comfortable 10-point lead.

Centre Florian Fritz extended the margin with a try in the opening exchanges of the second spell, but the Exiles gave their hosts plenty to think about when lock Kieran Roche powered his way over the try-line and Toulouse winger Cedric Heymans was yellow-carded for fighting.

Elissalde’s boot kept the scoreboard ticking over, and lock Jean-Francois Montauriol’s late try gave triple European champions Toulouse a much-needed bonus point after last weekend’s humiliating loss to Ulster.