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Anche Tolosa e Saints a punteggio pieno. Grande incertezza nel gruppo tre con
Four-times winners Toulouse bid to continue their love affair with the Heineken Cup in the tie of the weekend against English heavyweights Leicester Tigers.
The European giants have won six titles between them and go head-to-head on the biggest stage for the seventh time in the south of France.
Yet both teams will be keen to make a statement in Pool 2 following below-par performances last season as Toulouse lost to Edinburgh in the quarter-finals and Leicester crashed out in the group stages.
Toulouse head coach Guy Noves said: “There is a love story between Toulouse and the Heineken Cup. We won the first title in 1996 and then we had three more victories. For our players it is a rewarding experience.
“Sure we want another title but it is definitely too soon to think about it. In the Heineken Cup you must be focused from the beginning until the end of the competition.”
Leicester, boosted by the return to fitness of England scrum-half Ben Youngs but without injured captain Geordan Murphy, remain unbeaten on the road this season with two wins and a draw from their three Premiership fixtures.
Match facts
Leicester Tigers’ average of 81 tackles (inc. missed tackles) per match was the lowest by a team in the Heineken Cup last season.
Contrastingly, Leicester were the team who passed the ball the most last season, their average of 165.8 passes was 17 per match more than any other team.
The two teams have mustered the most Heineken Cup final appearances, the Tigers have five and Toulouse have six.
Toulouse have 24 wins and 14 losses against English opponents as well as two draws over the years.
In the last three seasons, the French side have 18 victories to their name, losing six matches, three of which came last season.
Leicester have won 80% of their home matches in the Heineken Cup, but just 50% of their away games.
The Tigers have a record of 21 wins, 15 losses and one draw against French teams in this tournament.
Toulouse have won over 50 home games (53) in this tournament, achieving a win rate of 84% in the process.
Four-time champions Toulouse have failed to advance from the group stage of this tournament only three times (2006/07, 2001/02 & 2000/01) in 17 appearances.
Leicester, who failed to get out of the group stage last season, conceded 83 points in their three pool matches away from Welford Road in 2011/12.
Benetton Treviso will host the most decorated side in the history of the Heineken Cup for the first time on Italian soil at the Stadio Comunale Monigo on Saturday afternoon. - 19/10/2012 08:44
Toulouse are the only club to win four Heineken Cup titles and they won the battle of the boots at Le Stadium for a 23-9 victory over Leicester Tigers that gives them an early advantage in a highly competitive Pool 2.
The kicking stalemate was broken in scintillating style in the 37th minute with a classy kick and chase effort from teenage centre Gael Fickou from a Tigers turnover, the unconverted try lighting up not only the half but a game that was an unrelenting war of attrition.
This was the seventh tournament meeting between these giants of the European game with previous meetings between the former champions standing at 3-3 and that mutual respect was evident in a cat-and-mouse opening, Toby Flood and Luke McAlister exchanging a brace of penalties.
There was plenty of thunder and bone-shuddering collisions but South African prop Gurthro Steenkamp was sent to the sin bin after deliberately tripping Scott Hamilton and the Tigers went ahead through Flood’s third strike on target while Toulouse were a man down.
McAlister nudged Toulouse further ahead with his third, fourth, fifth and sixth penalties in just 14 minutes as the Tigers started to crack under relentless pressure from a Toulouse pack in which Louis Picamoles was immense.
And the home side showed all their European experience in closing the game down for the four points and leaving the Tigers with nothing for their efforts.
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