Nine tries to zero and the biggest gap in the history of the finals. Toulouse did more than recite its lesson, racing the game from the first minutes to always lead the score and above all take the game into their own hands.
They proved that they were more than a big club, with a unique record, a golden generation, made to win and set to last.
“If we win tomorrow (this Friday) evening,” said fullback Thomas Ramos on Thursday, “we will reach a milestone in the history of our club, and of our sport in general”: it is now done.
Clinics
Faced with clinical, pragmatic Toulouse, much more precise, fast and disciplined than their opponents, Maxime Lucu’s teammates defended with rage, tried, tried to play their rugby, the Rouge et Noir were far too strong.
On the bench, as the minutes ticked away towards the final whistle, the Bordelo-Bèglais seemed stunned, unable to believe it, as if struck by lightning.
Their coach Yannick Bru had however warned that a final must be played, not consider yourself already happy to participate in it and above all “not be spectators”.
” It’s a nightmare. That’s not the face we wanted to show. »
However, this is what the UBB players seemed to be: feverish, waiting, too frozen by the stakes, this terrible and exciting stake at the same time of winning a first Brennus Shield.
Their three-quarters, so brilliant during the season, were deprived of the ball, like Damian Penaud. The other UBB winger, Louis Bielle-Biarrey, was taken off prematurely, as a symbol of the impotence of the “Patrouille de France”.
Losing bets
The “bets” attempted by the Bordeaux-Bègles management, that is to say starting the pillar Ben Tameifuna and especially the fly-half Matthieu Jalibert, barely back from injuries but ultimately probably too weak, did not turn out to be winners.
Jalibert, replaced at 54e minute with his head down and under a few whistles, was thus at the origin of the first Toulouse try, one of his first kicks having fallen directly into the arms of Thomas Ramos.
Relaunching the game, the Toulouse full-back set the red and black machine in motion, until Antoine Dupont’s powerful try in the 7th minutee minute, his first in the Top 14 final.
The other gamble of the UBB staff, to play Tameifuna when he had been announced as out at the beginning of the week, was not the most successful either.
The Tongan pillar did not seem at his best and accumulated errors in the scrum, penalizing his teammates, appearing to suffer several times with his shoulder until his exit in the 47the minute, to the applause of the entire Vélodrome.
Dupont then did a Dupont: he who had already been accelerating the pace, varying the game, since the start of the match, allowed himself the luxury of a double on a personal exploit.
AFP
Almost infallible in the final, Stade Toulousain won its 23rd Top 14 final in 30 attempts.
Following a maul, on a ball recovered by Mauvaka, the captain of the French XV and future player of the Olympic Sevens team, kicked a little for himself, above his understudy for the Blues Maxime Lucu, before going to flatten (22-3, 23e).
In the second half, the Toulousains, in full control, were initially content to manage, bringing on all their substitutes so that the party was complete.
Before the match turned into a nightmare for UBB, with a succession of tries from the 64th minutee minute.
More than a recitation, the match turned into humiliation. The Vélodrome could sing and the Toulouse party could begin.
“Really want to leave my mark on the club”
Antoine Dupont (Toulouse scrum half): “We knew the qualities of this Bordeaux team, despite their inexperience, they gave everything they had. But we started well, calmly and in control, we quickly took the score. We are still a young group but we are starting to have some experience and the experience of these matches. We have enormous enthusiasm but also a calm which allows us to win. I’m very happy, it’s incredible for the story of these guys. We really wanted to make an impact on the club with this generation. »
Matthieu Jalibert (UBB flyhalf at Canal + microphone): “It’s a nightmare, we knew it was going to be difficult, I didn’t think there was so much of a gap. I think we can’t even be disappointed because we have been taken in all sectors. That’s not the face we wanted to show. »
: Toulouse crushes UBB to win its 23rd Brennus shield){kind=link}