They are box office, of course. The team anyone would pay good money to watch. A collection of youngsters from Manchester were given the best seats in the house, as their magisterial hosts ran rings round them. This is Sale’s record defeat. This is Toulouse avenging their defeat to Saracens last week. Far older and uglier players than Sale could call on would have suffered similarly.
Both teams thus qualify for the last 16. Toulouse leapfrog their visitors into second place, for now, which means a home tie. They will be cheering on Glasgow, who host Saracens in the last match of the pool stages on Sunday.
Sale were missing 13 players and had already qualified. Toulouse were missing quite a few too, but there’s an injury-struck squad and there’s a Toulouse squad. Still they were able to send out international after international. Thomas Ramos ended the match with 27 points, a try in the second half and 11 conversions out of 11, the last from the wrong touchline, just to show off. He is the deadliest goal-kicker in the world, possibly in history.
Toulouse began the match outside the qualifying places, believe it or not, fifth out of six in Pool 1. There was never any question of them not qualifying, a win all but guaranteed against the travelling youngsters, but it was fun trying to imagine the aristos of this competition failing to make the last 16.
That idle fancy did not last long. It says something that Sale played out of their skins for 40 minutes, nearly crossing the line themselves at one point, but they turned around 28-0 down, bonus-point fourth try conceded on the stroke of half-time. Toulouse had their first in the third minute, the monstrous Emmanuel Meafou not needing a lot of his 145kg to break through flailing arms off an attacking lineout.
That was Toulouse resorting to muscle for their first score, and it is to Sale’s credit that they had to repeat the trick to score their second, a whole 20 minutes later. Which means until that point, Sale survived an avalanche of penalties and pressure to keep their hosts at bay. No stopping Julien Marchand, though, at the back of an advancing lineout and drive at the start of the second quarter.
Then Toulouse showed us a flash of the kind of rugby for which they are better known. Blair Kinghorn, looking imperious at fly-half, released Dimitri Delibes and Léo Banos to combine down the right, before he did the same down the left for Ramos to put Matthis Lebel away. He found Antoine Dupont supporting on the inside, the maestro running home Toulouse’s third.
Leicester's last-16 hopes were left in tatters after a 39-26 defeat by Stormers in Cape Town. Early tries from Evan Roos and Andre-Hugo Venter put the hosts in control before George Pearson pulled one back.
Some Will Wand magic hauled the Tigers back into the match at half-time and they led by six when Jamie Blamire went over early in the second half. However, tries from Leolin Zas and JD Schickerling edged the Stormers back in front before Tom Manz scored for Leicester.
But Imad Khan denied the Tigers a losing bonus point when his late try (pictured) sent Stormers through. Instead, a losing bonus point against Harlequins on Sunday will be enough for La Rochelle to qualify from Pool 3 and knock out Leicester.
Leinster battled to a 22-13 win at Bayonne which secured home advantage in the last 16. Bayonne – who had lost their opening three Pool 3 games, including to Leicester and Harlequins – took an early lead at the Stade Jean Dauger through a breakaway try from Sireli Maqala in the 14th minute before Harry Byrne's penalty got Leinster, already qualified from Pool 3, on the board.
After Joshua Kenny just failed to take the ball and go over in the corner, a long-range penalty from Joris Segonds put the French side further ahead. Thomas Clarkson then saw his 33rd-minute try disallowed for a double movement as Bayonne went into half-time 10-3 in front.
Bayonne's Herschel Jantjies was shown a yellow card in the 49th minute for a deliberate knock-on. Leinster made the most of their advantage when Dan Sheehan slid over in the 56th minute and Byrne nailed the conversion to bring the visitors level at 10-10.
Segonds kicked another penalty on the hour to swiftly restore Bayonne's lead, which looked to have been wiped out when Jimmy O'Brien charged on to a kick from Sam Prendergast and went down in the corner – only for his try to be ruled out by the television match official for failing to ground the ball as he was tackled over the line.
Leinster produced a strong finish as Prendergast latched on to Byrne's chipped pass under the posts and then Max Deegan crossed in the corner to make sure of another hard-earned win to maintain their 100% record at the top of the group. PA Media
The young Sale side’s world caved in just before the break. First Alex Wills was shown yellow for a deliberate knock-on. From the subsequent attacking lineout, Kalvin Gourgues scored Toulouse’s fourth from Delibes’s inside ball, but the referee, a touch mercilessly, showed Sale another yellow, Sam Dugdale having sacked the lineout and manhandled Dupont in vain.
So Sale faced the opening 10 minutes of the second half with a two-man disadvantage. They almost laughed at the prospect, scoring a fine try, their only one of the match, four minutes in, Tom Curtis looping his captain, Marius Louw, to scythe through, as if it were Toulouse who were down to 13.
Toulouse Ramos; Delibes (Thomas 49), Gourgues, Chocobares, Lebel; Kinghorn (Graou 57), Dupont (capt); Baille (Neti 49), Marchand (Mauvaka 55), Aldegheri (Mallez 49), Flament, Meafou (Roumat 62), Banos, Willis (Cros 53), Jelonch (Brennan 49)
Tries Meafou, Marchand, Dupont 2, Gourgues, Delibes, Lebel 2, Ramos, Graou, Brennan
Cons Ramos 11
Sale Davies; Ene, Ma’asi-White (Bedlow 62), Louw (capt), Wills Grace 49; Curtis, Warr (Hanson 59); Rodd (McIntyre ht), Jibulu (Caine ht), Harper (Bell 45), Burrow (Hogg 70), Andrews, Gilmore, Woodman, Dugdale (Logan 51)
Yellow cards Wills 40, Dugdale 40, Andrews 73
Try Curtis Con Curtis
Referee Andrew Brace (Ire)
Att 18,754
They had been allowed their fun. The tries rained down from then on, all one way, more than a few the sort you could hang on the wall. Let’s reserve special mention for Dupont’s second, in the final quarter, from Ramos’s cross-kick to the interplay between Gourgues and Lebel down the left and that maestro again supporting on the inside. We thought Dupont had finished another, even more outrageous move from their own 22 a few minutes later, but a forward pass earlier on did for the score.
Alas, Sale suffered anyway, Hyron Andrews shown their third yellow of the night for a high tackle on Peato Mauvaka. Toulouse scored two more while Andrews was away and had another disallowed for Teddy Thomas’s simultaneous foot in touch as he dived for the line.
That was the third try Toulouse had been disallowed. It could have been worse. Or more beautiful. They are still in the competition. Rejoice.
