Stade Toulousain beat La Rochelle this Sunday, in Toulouse, during the second day of the Top 14.
The shock for Toulouse. In what is the best match of this start of the Top 14 season, Stade Toulousain overcame La Rochelle (35-27) this Sunday, in the closing match of the second day. The Toulousains take the lead in the Top 14 ranking, ahead of Lyon.
Despite a flash of lightning from Teddy Thomas (18th), ideally served at height by Ulupano Seuteni, it was the Red and Black who dominated the debates in the first act. In the space of two minutes, they managed to turn the situation around thanks to two banderillas planted by Pita Ahki (23rd) and Thibaud Flament (25th). Just before returning to the locker room, the Toulousains concretized their superiority with a third try scored by Pierre-Louis Barassi (40th + 1), who managed to resist five La Rochelle defenders to flatten on the line.
The Rochelais bench makes the difference
As soon as the restart, the La Rochelle staff made the strong choice to change their front five. A choice that paid off at first since Ronan O’Gara’s men managed to inflict a 15-3 on the Toulousains, thanks to a strong try from Aleksandre Kuntelia (51st) and a quick double from Teddy Thomas (55th), who was able to resist the return of Pita Ahki. After Antoine Hastoy’s transformation, they even managed to get back in front in the 56th minute (25-27).
But the Rochelais then showed themselves to be more and more undisciplined and Will Skelton received a yellow card for the entire work of his partners (62nd). Outnumbered, the Rochelais lock gave way for a fourth time under the power of Emmanuel Meafou (67th). In a tense end to the match between the two teams, the score would not change and it was Stade Toulousain who sat on the leader’s chair of the Top 14, with two victories in as many matches.
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