Toulouse 36-17 Sale Sharks
A dejected Sale Sharks side were comprehensively beaten by Toulouse
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By Tom Powell. |  |
Sunday, 11, Oct 2009 04:33
By Tom Powell.
Toulouse showed why they are amongst the favourites to lift the Heineken Cup by beating Sale Sharks 36-17 at Stade Ernest Wallon.
Two tries from Vincent Clerc and one from Maxime Medard gave Toulouse a commanding 24-3 lead at the break with Sale struggling to get a foothold in the game.
The hosts added two more tries through Yvus Donguy before Rob O'Donnell and Ben Cohen grabbed a couple of consolation tries for the Sharks in the last five minutes.
It took just two minutes for Toulouse to grab the first try of the game. Medard twisting and stretching over the line after Cedric Heymans had gathered a Jean-Baptiste Elissalde cross field kick and fed the full-back. Elissalde added the extras.
Sale were straight back into the match courtesy of a Macleod penalty after Toulouse went over the top at a ruck to make it 7-3 with just four minutes gone.
Toulouse were bossing the encounter and so it was no surprise when they added their second try with 13 minutes on the clock. Florian Fritz ghosted through the Sale defence and provided a platform for Clerc to go over from close range. Elissalde's conversion made it 14-3.
Sale were being overwhelmed by a rampant Toulouse pack and another foray into the Sale 22 ended in three more points from the boot of Elissalde.
Ten minutes before the break Clerc became the Heineken Cup's all-time top try scorer when he collected Elissalde's cross field kicked and touched down in the corner. The score taking him ahead of Dafydd James and onto 30 Heineken Cup tries.
The Toulouse fly-half kept up his 100 per cent record with the boot with an inch perfect conversion to make it 24-3 at the break.
The second half continued where the first half left off and it took Toulouse just a minute to wrap up the bonus point with their fourth try.
A chip and chase from Medard provided a platform from which the ball was spun wide to substitute Donguy who finished in style to make it 29-3.
Seven substitutions early in the second half halted Toulouse's momentum as the second half failed to live up to the expectations of the first 40 minutes.
Then with 50 minutes on the clock Sale finally threatened the Toulouse line only to find the French defence as dominating as their attack and they eventually lost possession.
Sale found themselves in a good position again a few minutes later but this time Cohen
was thumped backwards by Yannick Jauzion to repel another Sharks attack.
Toulouse stepped up a gear and added their fifth try with fourteen minutes to go. Donguy staking his place for a starting place by adding his second try after a chip from Byron Kelleher. Elissalde added the extras to stretch the lead to 36-3.
Sale continued to plug away and were rewarded for their persistance with two consolation tries in the last five minutes. First O'Donnell finally found a way through the Toulouse defence and touched down following good work from the forwards.
Then Cohen powered past a tired looking Toulouse side to give the scoreline a respectable look which was just reward for Sale's dogged second half performance.
Macleod added both conversions to leave the final score 36-17.