Toulouse's power and skill eventually overwhelms gutsy Sharks

It won’t be of any solace to the Sharks that it took Toulouse until the 70th minute before they finally iced what had been a robust Champions Cup encounter at the Stade Ernest-Wallon on Saturday. 

The five-time winners of the competition ran out victors 54-20, but that margin was, for all the flair they displayed throughout, somewhat flattering to the French, and certainly doesn’t indicate the level of fight shown by Siya Kolisi’s side. 

That they were able to worry Touloluse for so long with Eben Etzebeth’s muscle absent and after a difficult journey to France that took more than 24 hours and saw the squad take different flights, is to their credit.  

Toulouse were roared on by a partisan home crowd in bright sunshine in the southern French city, who after impeccably observing a prematch moment’s silence for the legendary former Sharks coach Ian McIntosh, who died this week, wanted no further respect directed the way of the visitors.

The pace of Toulouse’s play was startling, with forwards and backs combining in a blur of nifty short passes. The Sharks’ cover defence was heroic with Werner Kok and Rohan Janse van Rensburg among those to produce last ditch interventions either by tackling or creating a turnover. 

It was the visitors who delivered a bit of magic of their own to stun the hosts in the 27th minute as Bosch countered from inside his own 22, sliding through a gap between Antoine Dupont and Richie Arnold and then delivering a perfect pass to scrumhalf Grant Williams, who was flying on his inside, and sprinted through under the posts.

Emmanuel Meafou, the 2.03m, 140kg second rower was gradually starting to dominate the physical exchanges however making the Sharks genuinely miss Etzebeth. He was the central figure providing the Toulouse pack with power at the maul that laid the foundation for their first try in the 39th minute, that saw a smart over-the-top pass from Ntamack create space on the outside for right winger Juan Cruz Mallia, who was yellow-carded earlier for a high hit on Makazole Mapimpi, to skirt over in the right corner. 

Toulouse took a four-point lead into the interval and then upped the ante thereafter. It took them five second-half minutes to open the Sharks' defence. With quick hands from Ntamack and centre Pierre Louis Barassi setting Mallia free, a flying Dupont on the side gave the final pass inside to Tomas Ramos to get him under the posts. 

Bravely the Sharks came back, a spectacular pass from Lukhanyo Am putting fullback Boeta Chamberlain into space for a very fine score. The Sharks closed the gap to within six points, but then ran out of legs as the travel started to tell along with Toulouse’s inventiveness with Dupont directing magnificently as they ran in four tries in the last 10 minutes to end the Sharks challenge in the competition.

Ramos finished with 29 points, made up of three penalties, five conversions and his two tries.

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