It was Stade Toulouse’s ferocity, slightly more than their finesse, that found the Sharks wanting in a Champions Cup match of thudding collisions here last night that saw the visitors go home 8-20 victors.
The Sharks were outclassed by a superior side but will draw comfort from the fact that they never abandoned battle stations.
Ultimately, though, it was the defending champions’ pace and power that prevailed in this clash of bank-breaking heavy spenders.
To be fair, the visitors should have won by a greater margin. They were wasteful once they entered the Sharks 22, with an inordinate amount of handling errors tripping them up, albeit in humid conditions.
When they didn’t have the ball, Toulouse’s tackles were keenly felt. The Sharks’ ball carriers were put through the wringer but, to be fair, the hosts gave as good as they got. The home team, constantly on the backfoot in the face of the marauding French force, stood up manfully.
It took a visionary and deft offload from Thomas Ramos to Blair Kinghorn to break the Sharks’ defence and perhaps their backs in the 43rd minute.
Sharks scrumhalf Jaden Hendrikse did his best to repel the Toulouse advances but his job was reduced to plugging holes rather than creating some of his own. Beside him, brother Jordan ran at the Toulouse defence with gusto. While his long boot wasn’t always accurate, he was full of relentless energy.
The visitors’ ability to offload at speed and precision was going to be put to the test in the humid conditions, but their transfers were at times breathtaking. It meant the Sharks’ nearest markers and their scramble defence were required to be on high alert.
By the half-hour mark, the Sharks were hanging on grimly. They disrupted Toulouse in the lineout and they earned two scrum penalties before the break. Ox Nche and Vincent Koch more than stood their ground but Koch eventually left the field with a head knock.
The hosts were, however, penned inside their own territory and the match took on a rinse and repeat cycle of the Sharks attempting a clearing kick, Toulouse running it back before coughing up possession.
The cycle was broken in the 35th minute when referee Luke Pearce awarded the tourists a penalty after a rather heated scuffle in the middle of the field. As you’d expect, the reliable Ramos effortlessly raised the flags from almost 50m out and he did the same just before the break after captain Antoine Dupont ran the tourists out of trouble.
There were early warning signs when Dupont put hooker Peato Mauvaka through a gap, and when he took the return pass he breezed past Makazole Mapimpi. The talisman’s Midas touch, however, deserted him when he tried to find Kinghorn on the right wing.
But Toulouse were back. Flyhalf Romain Ntamack’s raking 50/22 presented the visitors a position of promise and, as is their wont, the visitors powered ahead from the resultant maul. They rumbled forward and man mountain lock Emmanuel Meafou inevitably crashed over.
While the Sharks did well to try and nullify Toulouse’s power, they did not do themselves any favours when opportunity beckoned. Legs numbed, chests burnt as the match wore on. Still the Sharks looked devoid of answers but young centre Jurenzo Julius provided some much needed thrust.
Earlier in the day, the Stormers continued their encouraging home form when they powered past Sale Sharks 40-0 in Cape Town.
