Toulouse collect priceless win at Llanelli

Llanelli Scarlets 6 Toulouse 9

French giants Toulouse opened their Heineken Cup campaign by collecting a priceless away win after Jean-Baptiste Elissalde kicked Llanelli into submission tonight.

Scrum-half Elissalde silenced the Stradey Park faithful, booting a penalty hat-trick to send Toulouse – European champions in 1996 and 2003 – off and running in this season’s competition.

Crucially though, Scarlets goalkicker Arwel Thomas missed three penalties before substitute Gareth Bowen hit the post from just 25 metres with time running out.

It was not only in the kicking department that Llanelli struggled to impose themselves, as try-scoring chances were frittered away, especially before half-time.

Scarlets boss Gareth Jenkins knows that his team already face a must-win Pool Three encounter when they visit struggling Northampton next weekend.

Toulouse, beaten in last season’s Heineken Cup final by Wasps, should encounter few problems in their second group fixture against Glasgow, suggesting that the Scottish side, Llanelli and Northampton could be playing catch-up from an early stage.

Lions supremo Sir Clive Woodward was among an 8,000 crowd, taking an early opportunity to run the rule over New Zealand tour candidates such as Toulouse’s Wales captain Gareth Thomas, Scarlets flanker Simon Easterby and his back-row colleague Scott Quinnell.

Toulouse arrived in windswept west Wales determined to compound Llanelli’s miserable Celtic League form that had seen them suffer four defeats from six starts, with their only victories being recorded against Borders and Edinburgh.

The visitors fielded a familiar array of stars, including French Grand Slam heroes Fabien Pelous, Frederic Michalak and Yannick Jauzion, while summer signing Thomas made his first appearance in Wales since leaving the now-defunct Celtic Warriors.

Llanelli rugby director Jenkins, unveiled by Woodward yesterday as one of the Lions coaches for next summer’s three-Test trip, preferred Arwel Thomas to Bowen at fly-half in what he admitted was a marginal call.

Gareth Thomas led Toulouse out but it was Llanelli who made all the early running and they were unlucky not to take a fourth-minute lead when an Arwel Thomas penalty attempt bounced back off the post.

The Scarlets clearly had an appetite for battle, and a strong run from wing Tal Selley would have produced a try, but for his kick over the Toulouse defence rolling agonisingly into touch as he looked to collect and dive over.

There was no let-up for Toulouse, yet Llanelli wasted two glorious opportunities when both Thomas and full-back Barry Davies ignored clear overlaps with a try not so much beckoning, but screaming at them.

Toulouse had to man the barricades under incessant pressure but they ended a fast and furious opening quarter only 3-0 adrift.

Metaphorically at least, Toulouse looked to have weathered the storm, and as the heavens opened, Elissalde tied things up with a short-range penalty while Llanelli lost Vernon Cooper through injury.

Toulouse ended the half with a degree of control, and Elissalde’s second penalty gave them a brief advantage until Thomas found his range from 38 metres to make it 6-6 at the interval.

Llanelli trooped off, knowing they had created sufficient chances to build a sizeable lead. It was a vast improvement on earlier displays this term, but their finishing did not complement some creative approach work.

Llanelli opened the second period with Thomas drifting a 40-metre penalty narrowly wide, and it was the cue for a spell of sustained pressure before Thomas’ frustratingly poor tactical kicking gave Toulouse a reprieve.

Scarlets lock Chris Wyatt was warned for a high tackle on Toulouse full-back Clement Poitrenaud, but Llanelli were soon back on the front foot after Ireland international Trevor Brennan tackled home scrum-half Dwayne Peel from an offside position.

Llanelli continued to build momentum, patiently going through the phases as their forwards retained a slight edge, and Toulouse were content to absorb, rather than attack.

The visitors had prop Omar Hasan sin-binned by English referee Chris White for a high tackle on Peel, but Thomas missed his third penalty from five attempts and the deadlock could not be broken.

A raking touchfinder from Michalak then allowed Toulouse a rare excursion into Llanelli’s 22, creating pressure from which Elissalde completed his penalty hat-trick with 12 minutes remaining.

Bowen replaced Thomas for the closing stages, yet his late miss could well haunt him for some time to come.