Brian Ashton wants Shane Geraghty to bring his attacking gifts to the fore in the battle with Toby Flood for the England No 10 jersey, while another Brian - Exiles coach Smith - also implored the fly-half to strut his stuff without fear against the three-times European champions. Geraghty did so, prompting a constant wave of attacks from all angles and areas of the field. The fact that it was still not enough to see off even a depleted Toulouse team says much about the French side's resilience as they spent 20 minutes with 14 men thanks to Xavier Garbajosa and Gregory Lamboley being sent to the sin bin.

The home side took the game to the deposed aristocrats of European rugby, but failed in the execution so often that they gifted all the initiative and momentum belonged to the visitors. However, something had to go right for the Exiles sometime. Garbajosa barged scrum-half Paul Hodgson off the ball at a ruck two metres from the Toulouse line, earning the Toulouse try-scorer a spell in the sin bin. In his absence, No 8 Juan Leguizamon made the most of an close-range scrum by prising open enough of a gap on a blindside burst to help Geraghty into a gap Thomas couldn't close for the new England hopeful to score. That gave the Exiles hope as they went in 12-5 behind at the break and although it took them 26 minutes after the restart to get even closer, the wait was worth it.

A multiphase attack directed by Geraghty was finished by Delon Armitage as the home side regained the ability to hold on to possession when it really mattered. The full-back followed up with another stunning team try to give his side the lead with eight minutes left. But that merely prompted an equally effective response from the visitors who sent Benoit Baby and Jean-Baptiste Elissalde over.

Armitage struck again at the death in a performance that pleased director of rugby Smith, who said: 'If you turn up against Toulouse and play scared and play a set-piece game, or what have you, and put the white flag up and not take them on, it's an opportunity lost. We asked our boys to keep playing and asked it again at half time. Was it our undoing? Yes. But would we have scored four tries otherwise? No. But did our fans go away thinking our boys gave a very gutsy performance and a brilliant display? Yes. I think they did and anyone who knows their rugby saw one hell of a game.

'It's unfortunate we lost because we had a 60-40 advantage over them in terms of opportunities. It's disappointing when you perform that well and don't get the victory.'

Madejski Stadium 8,864

London Irish Armitage; Ojo, Tiesi (Everitt 52), Mapusua, Shabbo (Flutey 20); Geraghty, Hodgson (Rees 72); Lea'aetoa, Coetzee (Paice 54), Rautenbach (Skuse 54), Kennedy, Casey (capt; Hudson 64)), Roche (McCullen 52), Magne, Leguizamon

Tries Geraghty, Armitage 3 Cons Everitt 2

Toulouse Thomas; Garbajosa, Kunavore, Baby, Medard (Huget 72); Dubois (Elissalde 40), Courrent; Human (Hasan 72), Lacombe (Servat 40), Hasan (Perugini 47), Lamboley, Brennan (Millo-Chlusky 58), Bouilhou (capt), Montauriol (Nyanga 38), Maka

Tries Garbajosa 2, Baby, Elissalde Cons Courrent, Elissalde 2

Referee A Lewis (Ire)