Toulouse - 32 Northampton - 16 It has not been a good week for English rugby. Only two days after the humiliating defeat in Dublin, when the International Board voted resoundingly in favour of France's World Cup plan, English pride took another fall in Toulouse when Northampton, outclassed by their French opponents, crashed out of the Heineken Cup.
The final scoreline gives little indication of the domination of the French side who, although prevented from showing any of their usual panache with the ball in hand, successfully countered Northampton's strengths and never looked in danger of losing.
For most of the first-half Northampton, pinned deep in their own half, were unable to secure clean ball in the lineout or to get any momentum going forward. It was not a pretty spectacle, as the Northampton coach Wayne Smith readily admitted afterwards: "It was dire stuff, perhaps the worst 40 minutes of rugby I've been involved in," said the New Zealander.
"We just lost composure. A lot of the reason we lost was down to us - nothing against Toulouse, but we handed them two tries.
"I'm not blaming the players, but young players have to learn from these things to win in the future."
Despite the deafening support of over 35,000 fans, the French failed to capitalise on their territorial domination. Northampton, meanwhile, somehow managed to stay in touch thanks to two long-range penalties from Paul Grayson and after 35 minutes of an often ill-tempered combat they trailed only 12-6.
The turning point came when Ben Cohen petulantly took exception to being tackled by his opposite number Vincent Clerc. Bundled into touch near halfway, Cohen retaliated with a punch, splitting Clerc's left eyebrow.
While Clerc went off to receive three stitches, and Cohen stayed on, the referee awarded a penalty that Xavier Garbajosa kicked into touch. From the ensuing lineout, the ball ran through four pairs of Toulouse hands before the outstanding Christian Labit stormed over for a try. The England winger may face disciplinary action over the incident.
"In the past we would have responded to the English provocation and we would have retaliated in kind," said Fabien Pelous, the Toulouse captain. "We decided to punish them in another way."
TOULOUSE: Poitrenaud; Ntamack, Desbrosse, Garbajosa, Clerc; Delaigue (2 cons, 4 pens), Michalak (2 pens); Collazo, Bru, Poux, Gerard, Pelous, Brennan, Bouilhou, Labit (try). Replacements: Maka for Brennan 55 mins; Heymans (try) for Ntamack 65 mins; Lecouls for Collazo 73 mins; Jauzion for Desbrosse 75 mins; Lamboley for Gerard 79 mins. Yellow card: Desbrosse 56 mins.
NORTHAMPTON: Beal; Brooks, Reihana, Hyndman, Cohen; Grayson (1 con, 3 pens), Dawson; Smith, Thompson, Stewart, Lord, Phillips, Connors, Pountney, Blowers. Replacements: Tucker for Hyndman 37 mins; Budgen for Stewart 46 mins; Sleightholme (try) for Beal 53 mins; Hunter for Phillips 60 mins; Soden for Lord 76 mins. Yellow card: Pountney 48 mins.
Referee: A Lewis (Ireland).
