Toulouse rises to the Bravehearts of Munster

Toulouse13

Here they were, losers by the narrowest of margins once again, the nearly-never men of the Heineken Cup being feted by masses of supporters who had made another costly overseas journey to lend their support.

Disappointment was etched on the faces, but the depression associated with losing was lifted, momentarily.

The four-year European odyssey has been astonishing in many respects and the French themselves recognised that when they paid their own remarkable tribute at the end of this compelling match.

French rugby grounds tend to be intimidating places for visiting sides, but Toulouse supporters recognised the contribution made by the men in red to one of the great rugby occasions.

When Munster embarked on a losers lap of honour, thousands of Toulouse supporters stood, cheered, clapped and chanted "Munster, Munster, Munster."

The reaction and applause for a visiting team was unprecedented. The tributes poured in after the match too, from Toulouse coach Guy Noves.

"It was exactly as we expected, very difficult. Munster are a brilliantly organised team. They challenged at the line-outs and they defended with their lives.

"This was one game we were glad to get through. I thought we deserved our win eventually, but we were flattered to be still in the game at half time."

Toulouse have a proud record on their home patch and the happy knack of putting teams to the sword.

It didn't worry Noves that Munster continuously threatened to buck that trend:

"Munster's record in Europe is much the same as our own. They win a lot more matches than they lose and they can win games away from home too.

" That's the sign of a very good team. We knew it was going to be very hard for us and I am happy with a one-point win.

"People may say we should win by more when playing at home, but the opposition sometimes stop you from doing that. It is a tribute to Munster and I sincerely believe that we have achieved something huge by beating such a very good team."

All the platitudes in the world will not, however, erase the painful memories of another narrow defeat.

To the players it must feel they are destined not to win this trophy. The only consolation is that, at least, they can't have felt cheated.

Munster dominated the opening half but really didn't do enough to pull away.

Tactically, Toulouse made the brave decisions in the second half when replacing Yann Delaigue with Jean-Baptiste Elissalde after 53 minutes and then switching Frederic Michalak to out-half.

It was an inspired move by Noves and the entire trend of the game changed almost immediately.

At the end of the day, despite Munster's dominance out of touch and despite the magnificent fight they put up, the better side won ... just.

Noves is blessed with a squad capable of interchange, with high quality players capable of springing from the bench.

Cedric Heymans is a case in point.

Without any disrespect to Munster, Alan Gaffney's options are more limited although he could, perhaps, have gone for one last throw of the dice by introducing Jason Holland earlier and could also have considered replacing out of sorts Jeremy Staunton with Dominic Crotty.

These were the main talking points.

Ultimately, though, there were no complaints.

It was just one hurdle too far against the aristocrats of French rugby. Disappointment?

Yes, particularly when Munster's man of the match Ronan O'Gara's brave efforts with two late drop goals fell short, but still nobody felt there was any shame in defeat.

O'Gara had put Munster into the lead after 14 minutes with a drop goal, the product of intense pressure, and he added a 17th minute penalty to give Munster the six point buffer their efforts deserved.

Still, Toulouse looked dangerous on the counter-attack and Munster's defence had to work overtime on a couple of occasions to keep the home side out.

Happily for them, Toulouse also contributed to their own problems by making several handling errors under pressure,

With O'Gara playing the percentages, Munster enjoyed most of the territorial advantage and Toulouse became increasingly nervous as the half wore on.

But Munster were lucky in the last minutes when Yann Delaigue and Xavier Garbajosa conjured up a magnificent attacking move only for the centre to knock on.

Toulouse did, however, receive a major boost in the sixth minute of injury time when Munster were penalised for offside and Delaigue made no mistake to cut the margin to three points a flattering situation.

Ultimately, that score was of crucial importance because the home side improved considerably in the second half despite the concession of another three early points to O'Gara.

Substitute Jean-Babtiste Ellisalde and O'Gara exchanged penalties in the 17th and 20th minutes of the half before Toulouse turned on the heat.

Xavier Garbajosa was over the line, but forced into losing possession by a magnificent tackle from Peter Stringer.

However, the pressure had to pay dividends and in the 35th minute Michalak surged over for a try and Elissalde added a mighty conversion.

Munster's injury time response was typical but it wasn't enough. O'Gara was forced to attempt drop goals from two far-flung positions.

He wasn't far off the mark with either but this time there was to be no Cardiff-type heroics.

TOULOUSE: C. Poitrenaud, E. Ntamack, X Garbajosa, Y. Jauzion, V. Clerc, Y. Delaigue, F. Michalak, P. Collazo, Y. Bru, J-B Poux, D. Gerard, F. Pelous (captain), T. Brennan, C. Labit, J. Bouilhou. J-B Elissalde for Delaigue (53), C. Heymans for Ntamack (57), B. Lecouls for Collazo (61), G. Lomboley for Gerard (79), F. Maka for Labit (83), Temporary replacement, Maka for Bouilhou (3-12).

MUNSTER: J. Staunton, J. Kelly, M. Mullins, R. Henderson, A. Horgan, R. O'Gara, P. Stringer, M. Horan, F. Sheahan, J. Hayes, D. O'Callaghan, P. O'Connell, J. Williams (captain), A. Foley, A. Quinlan. Replacement. J. Holland for Henderson (85).

Referee: C. White (England)