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Toulouse will be without a trio of key forwards for their European Rugby Champions Cup Pool 2 match against Italian side Zebre on Saturday. - 14/12/2016 15:17
Toulouse will be without a trio of key forwards for their European Rugby Champions Cup Pool 2 match against Italian side Zebre on Saturday.
Edwin Maka, Cyril Baille and Julien Marchand all suffered injuries in last weekend’s win in Parma.
No 8 Maka has had an operation on his hand and will be out for 10 weeks with front row Baille out for three weeks after taking a blow to the ribs.
Toulouse ended a six-game European winless run when they beat Zebre 36-6 in foggy conditions last weekend.
Arthur Bonneval scored a brace of tries with Yoan Huget, Gael Fickou and Joe Tekori also getting on the scoresheet. Sebastian Bezy kicked 11 points for Toulouse who sit seventh in the Top14 after an inconsistent start to the first half of their domestic campaign
But the French are hunting down the top two of Wasps and Connacht in Pool 2, and will target another bonus-point win over Zebre if they are to keep tabs on the leaders.
Five points would likely be enough for Toulouse to move into second in the group with Connacht taking on Wasps in Galway on Saturday.
Zebre are rock bottom of the group having lost all three of their games. Carlo Canna booted their six points in the loss last weekend, and the Italians have scored just 27 points across their European matches this season.
And they face a tough task travelling to the Stade Ernest-Wallon, as Toulouse have not lost there in five games, including the 20-20 draw against Wasps in October.
But Zebre head coach Gianluca Guidi believes there are positives to be drawn from what has so far been a steep learning curve.
He said: “I saw on the field against Toulouse some good things and we proved we can compete at this level. We moved the ball well and we went well in defence with four kicks.
“But we must understand that these players quickly adapt to our way of defending: that is their strength and we have to learn from that.”
Toulouse made it a full 10 points against Zebre Rugby in the back-to-back matches as they followed up their bonus-point win in Italy with an eight try romp at home. - 18/12/2016 17:49
Toulouse made it a full 10 points against Zebre Rugby in the back-to-back matches as they followed up their bonus-point win in Italy with an eight try romp at home.
It means Ugo Mola’s men are level on 13 points with Wasps and Connacht Rugby in Pool 2 and are well in the hunt for a first quarter-final slot since 2014. They face Wasps in the Ricoh Arena in Round 5 and Connacht at home a week later.
The Italians got off to a flying start with a try within two minutes of the kick-off from Italian international hooker Tommaso D'Apice. Carlo Canna converted and the Italian No 10 also added a first-half penalty.
But the Toulouse response was rapid and pretty savage. Having matched that early score with a try from back row man Gillian Galan they put the visitors to the sword in a nine minute purple patch that ended the game as a contest.
The four time champions scored four tries flowed in that period as Paul Perez, Yoann Huget, Arthur Bonneval and Toby Flood crossed to bag the bonus point before half-time. Flood converted three of them and then added the extras to a 38th minute score from Guthro Steenkamp that made it 40-10 at the break.
In the second half the scoring slowed down, although Johan Meyer grabbed a second try for Zebre four minutes after the re-start. Perez got his second try, which Flood converted, before Yann David completed the scoring with an eighth try, Flood’s conversion making it 19 points on the day for the former England outside half.
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