Match Report: Exeter Chiefs 21 – 64 Stade Toulousain

A ten-try performance from Stade Toulousain saw them to victory against Exeter Chiefs at Sandy Park in Round Two of the Investec Champions Cup.

With the sky an inky black, the two sides prepared to clash for just the third time. Both previous occasions were in the knockout stages of the competition. With one win apiece on the books, it was the Frenchmen that took the spoils in Devon today.

Eight different try scorers were on the books for Toulouse while Tommy Wyatt and Josh Hodge were responsible for points on the board for Chiefs with Henry Slade converting the three scores.

As if it were written in a script, the man with the World Rugby 7s crown proved that 15s was still very much his forte when he scored the first points of the match. Short offloads from an original Francois Cros break fed Antoine Dupont just inside the Chiefs 22 and the classy player took no second asking to run in the score.

Thomas Ramos took the simple conversion for the full set of points.

From the backs to the forwards, the visitor’s second of the day was scored by experienced hooker, Julien Marchand. Taking control of the ball at the rear of the driving maul, he shepherded the pack over the line. The conversion attempt from Ramos curled around at the last second to secure the two points.

Just as Chiefs looked to be on the front foot with their defence, Henry Slade and Immanuel Feyi-Waboso chasing down a kick on top of Ramos left a two-man gap in the line. Carving his way through it, with jink-steps confusing the back-tracking Chiefs defenders, Matthis Lebel splashed over beneath the posts.

Ramos added the conversion as the clock struck past 30 minutes played.

Feyi-Waboso righted his wrongs a minute later. Taking a pass on the wing, he tip-toed the touchline to offload to Stu Townsend. As he was enveloped in a last defender tackle on the edge of the 22, the scrum half was able to pop the ball off the floor to an onrushing Wyatt who cantered in for the score.

Much to the delight of the home crowd, in amongst some boos from travelling fans, Slade slotted the conversion.

The try bonus point belonged to the Frenchmen before half time as Josh Hodge was sucked into the line, giving Thibauld Flament a gap to lumber his frame through on the far wing for a short run in. With Ramos’ conversion, Toulouse were 21 points ahead.

Chiefs were reduced to 14 men with seconds left in the half when Townsend was shown a yellow card for cynical play as Toulouse attacked inches from the Exeter line. With the home side depleted and defending the tight phases, Dupont put the ball long to Pierre-Louis Barassi for the run-in.

Ramos’ fifth conversion of the day brought the first half of action to an end.

Half-time: Chiefs 7 – 35 Toulouse

Toulouse started the second half in the same manner as they had closed the first. Chiefs were caught napping as the Frenchmen made use of an overlap, quickly feeding ball to Lebel for his second of the evening tight to the corner flag in front of the East Terrace.

Ramos wasn’t able to curl the kick round to find the inside of the uprights, logging his first miss of the game.

Wyatt soon gave the Sandy Park faithful something to riotously cheer. Will Haydon-Wood went to his short-side at a ruck on halfway to find Ethan Roots. The flanker flicked on to Dan Frost who was able to grab the ball from Juan-Cruz Mallia’s grasp to create a two-on-one on the wing with Wyatt on his shoulder.

The hooker gave the pass, and the Cornishman tore down the touchline for the score. Slade’s clean execution at the tee added the extra two points.

Barassi followed his teammate Lebel in securing a brace when he also made use of space on the wing to touch down in the 49th minute before Hodge scored Chiefs’ third of the day before an hour was seen out.

As the ball popped out of Tamati Tua’s grasp backwards on the ground five metres from the Toulouse 22, the quick thinking full-back put boot to ball to chase down his own grubber. Slade added the conversion to take Chiefs into the 20s.

Not to be outdone, Toulouse were soon in a position for Ramos to kick them into the 50s when replacement Theo Ntamack burst through attempted tackles on the edge of the Chiefs 22 to crash over beneath the posts, giving his full-back a simple conversion.

Unfortunately for Chiefs, it seemed to be a theme of the day that they were exploited on the edges. Replacement Blair Kinghorn trotted past Hodge to secure his side’s ninth of the encounter before a tenth try from replacement Paul Graou in the same corner put the sealant on the Toulouse win and took the Top14 side past the 60-point barrier.

Full-time: Chiefs 21 – 64 Toulouse

Chiefs: J Hodge; I Feyi-Waboso, B Hammersley (Haydon-Wood 40’), T Tua (Wimbush 62’), T Wyatt; H Slade, S Townsend (Becconsall 70’); W Goodrick-Clarke (Blose 40’), D Frost (Yeandle 58’), E Painter (J Roots 40’), R Tuima (Jenkins 46’), R Capstick, E Roots, J Vermeulen (c) (Fisilau 48’), R Vintcent.

Tries: Wyatt 2, Hodge Conversions: Slade 3

Yellow card: Stu Townsend

Toulouse: Thomas Ramos; J-C Mallia (Kinghorn 50’), P-L Barassi, S Chocobares, M Lebel; R Ntamack, A Dupont (c) (Castro-Ferreira 62’); R Neti (Ainu’u 53’), J Marchand (Cramont 53’, Marchand 61’), D Aldegheri (Merkler 47’), T Flament, E Meafou (Brennan 50’), F Cros, J Willis (Graou 62’), A Roumat (T Ntamack 53’).

Tries: Dupont, Marchand, Lebel 2, Flament, Barassi 2, T Ntamack, Kinghorn, Graou Conversions: Ramos 7

Referee: Andrew Brace

Attendance: 13,832