Toulouse 22-17 La Rochelle: Heavyweight collision lacks real sparkle but Toulouse won’t care

PLAUDITS to Toulouse for becoming the first team to win a recordbreaking five European Cup titles, but unfortunately for a club lauded for its attacking tradition, there was not much of the fizz of champagne rugby about this lockdown of a final.

There was plenty of bulldozing physicality and sweat, but in the end not enough guile and flair to get the 10,000 fans allowed into Twickenham for this all-French final on their feet anything but fleetingly.

It took until the hour for the big bash stalemate to finally come to life, when Toulouse's star half-back pairing of Antoine Dupont and Romain Ntamack at last found the key to unlock the hitherto unyielding La Rochelle defence, carving out enough space for the young Argentine centre, Juan Cruz Mallia, to score the first try of the match.

It proved decisive, but the quality of the La Rochelle rearguard action was exceptional, given that they had been reduced to 14 men when, in the 27th minute, Levani Botia, their Fijian centre, became the first player to be sent off in a European Cup final.

Having to defend for more than 50 minutes with one man down eventually took its toll, even though La Rochelle fired one last defiant shot when their former All Black scrumhalf, Tawera Kerr-Barlow, set Toulouse nerves on edge with a late try, which put his side back within striking distance for the last seven minutes.

Botia will be inconsolable, because there is no question that his dismissal was the seminal moment of the match. However, it was a stone cold red card as his high front-on tackle saw his shoulder smack full force into the face of the Toulouse full-back, Maxime Medard.

Initially, referee Luke Pearce showed Botia a yellow card because, after a penalty had been given, he had not retreated ten metres before launching himself with uncontrolled force into the tackle. However, having seen the action replay, the referee rightly raised the tariff to red.

The reality is that there had been a good deal of topspin applied to Toulouse's peerless acquisition of four European Cup titles before their attempt to make it a record fifth at Twickenham. Their first title, when they became the inaugural winners in 1996, was a solid enough two tries to nil victory over a dogged Cardiff side.

However, the three Toulouse titles that followed in 2003, 2005, and 2010, were all-French affairs which were far from great spectacles. They were more dependent on goalkicking than the cut-andthrust attacking rugby on which Toulouse's reputation as a great club has been built – and this was underlined by the fact that in those three finals, after 260 minutes of play, they scored just one try.

It is why, despite high hopes that we would see some vintage rugby from Toulouse – as well as from an impressive La Rochelle side that is only one point behind them in the Top 14 title race – the weight of history pointed towards an attritional contest.

For the most part, that is exactly what we got. It was reflected in the way it took Toulouse 35 minutes before their Springbok magician, Cheslin Kolbe, received a pass, with their pack engaged in what looked like a losing arm-wrestle with the monster La Rochelle forwards.

An early exchange of penalties saw Toulouse take a 6-3 lead, with Ntamack kicking two to one by Ihaiah West – who ultimately let eight points get away after hitting the post with three of his kicks.

However, when the first of West's near misses saw Toulouse forced to carry the ball back over their line to ground it in the 15th minute, the La Rochelle siege machine looked as if it was in business after being awarded a series of five metre scrums.

Instead, Toulouse scrapped their way out with La Rochelle not helping their own cause when Botia spilled a clever delayed pass by Kerr- Barlow. The first half then reverted to a goal-kicking competition between Ntamack and West, which, despite Botia's dismissal, saw La Rochelle 12-9 ahead at half-time after Ryno Elstadt was yellow-carded.

Toulouse started the second-half with much more intent to stretch the depleted La Rochelle defensive line, and almost immediately the more adventurous approach came close to paying off.

They launched a sudden strike up the middle through chunky hooker Peato Mauvaka, and when he linked with Dupont, who injected a burst of pace before sending a cross-kick into the path of Kolbe on the right wing, La Rochelle were in trouble.

As the Springbok finisher collected the ball on the bounce he looked home and dry, but a brilliant cover tackle by Geoffrey Dumayrou saw the La Rochelle centre sweep Kolbe's legs into touch.

Even so, Toulouse levelled it at 12-12 with an Ntamack penalty for an earlier infringement. La Rochelle responded with a series of pick-and-drives which saw hooker Pierre Bourgarit spill the ball as he reached for the line.

Toulouse returned fire with loosehead Cyril Baille making a couple of bulldozing charges before lock Rory Arnold's drive for the line was ruled out after the TMO was unable to confirm where the ball was grounded.

As Toulouse continued to bring the heat a rumble by former All Black prop Charlie Faumuina set up a ruck, and after Dupont linked with Ntamack the fly-half whipped a long pass into the hands of bench No.8 Selevasio Tolofua stationed in the tramlines. He made headway before slipping an inside pass to Mallia, who had the pace to finish.

Ntamack's conversion gave Toulouse a 19-12 lead on the hour, and when further pressure yielded a penalty he added to his flawless tally from the tee to extend it to 22-12 with 11 minutes remaining.

La Rochelle raged against the dying of the light, and after forcing a five metre lineout, a driving maul, followed by charges from outstanding forwards Gregory Alldritt and Will Skelton, saw the canny Kerr-Barlow snipe over on the blindside.

However, after West's conversion hit the post, Toulouse managed to muster just enough composure to hold out.

As a spectacle this final did not come close to matching last year's firecracker between Exeter and Racing 92 – but that will not bother Toulouse, or their absent fans, one jot.