Three-Try Defeat Knocks Connacht Out Of Europe

Connacht’s slim hopes of qualification for the Heineken Champions Cup quarter-finals are over after losing 21-7 to Toulouse at the Sportsground.

The French champions sealed their passage through to the last-eight as Pool 5 winners, with converted scores from captain Jerome Kaino, Julien Marchand and Pita Ahki cancelling out an early Connacht penalty try.

Leading 14-7 at half-time, former Connacht back Ahki capitalised on Antoine Dupont’s charge-down of a Jack Carty kick to put Toulouse out of reach. An increasingly-frustrated Connacht even failed to score late on when the visitors lost Yoann Huget to the sin-bin and Zach Holmes to a red card.

Out-half Holmes’ 73rd-minute dismissal for a high tackle on Tiernan O’Halloran came too late to really influence the outcome. Toulouse had started the brighter with Connacht needing strong defence, particularly from Tom McCartney and Ultan Dillane, to keep them at bay.

Having absorbed that pressure, Andy Friend’s men were able to land the first blow in the 10th minute. Three penalties were kicked to touch and a powerful rolling maul yielded a penalty try. Toulouse lock Joe Tekori was also yellow carded by referee Luke Pearce.

The hosts’ numerical advantage was short-lived, though, as flanker Colby Fainga’a soon went to the bin for a high hit on Thomas Ramos. By the end of the first quarter, Toulouse were level, their hard carries setting up former All Black Kaino to burrow over and Ramos converted.

The pool leaders were now in the ascendancy in terms of possession and territory, and their dominance eventually bore fruit just before the break. Impressive hooker Marchand profited from a well-executed lineout drive to score from the base. Ramos converted again to make it 14-7.

Four minutes after the restart, pressure on the Connacht half-backs saw Dupont block Carty’s clearance on his own try-line and centre Ahki successfully grounded the loose ball. Adding to Connacht’s woes, full-back Ramos sent over the difficult conversion to open up a 14-point gap.

Buoyed by the impact of replacements Caolin Blade and Dave Heffernan, Connacht attacked with vigour but their execution let them down as they scrambled to maintain their proud record of 14 straight home pool wins across the Champions Cup and Challenge Cup since November 2015.

Toulouse’s stubborn and well-organised defence repelled the westerners until they lost their discipline during the closing quarter. Replacement Huget was binned for a dump tackle on heavily-involved full-back O’Halloran, setting up a 15-against-14 scenario for the final nine minutes.

Just moments later, O’Halloran once again bore the brunt of overzealous Toulouse defending when Holmes caught the Connemara man high. However, Connacht were unable to exploit the extra space as Toulouse’s pack of heavyweights – including man-of-the-match prop Charlie Faumuina – had laid the platform for a fifth straight pool victory.

Head coach Friend felt Connacht’s execution let them down on the day, especially when considering replacement Huget’s sin-binning and Holmes’ red card during the final nine minutes which saw Ugo Mola’s side finish with 13 men.

The Australian admitted: “I thought our intent was really good and that we showed a lot of energy. It’s just our execution that let us down and it’s not where it needs to be in a Champions Cup game. That’s where we lost it. But I suppose it’s a plus to have our intent back and our desire back.

“We’ve just got to make sure we’ve more clinical next time. I thought our defence was somewhere we fronted up, getting double shots and bouncing, and it was much, much better (than the recent interprovincial defeats).”

Noting ‘the little moments and mini battles’ which Connacht crucially lost, Athlone man Carty added: “I think if you look across the game, there were five or six of them, and one or two of them were in the first half. Four or five times during the game we let them off the hook too easily.

“We had the block-down just after half-time (where Pita Ahki scored his try), and before half-time we were attacking deep in Toulouse’s half and we had a cheap turnover. Then they have a lineout and maul us over for a try. Credit to Toulouse, they were clinical enough to take the points.”