Wasps out of the Heineken Cup

Toulouse 19 Wasps 13

Toulouse ended London Wasps’ involvement in the Heineken Cup with a victory that ensures their own passage to the quarter-finals.

The defending European champions guarateed their place at the top of Pool Six with a 19-13 victory over Wasps in a repeat of the 2004 Heineken Cup Final.

A blistering opening quarter-of-an hour, that saw Gareth Thomas score, proved enough to win a scrappy affair while Jean-Baptiste Elissalde converted and added four penalties.

Wasps responded with a try from Raphael Ibanez and three kicks from England hopeful Mark Van Gisbergen.

Wasps knew they were facing an uphill task, needing to take maximum points at Le Stadium Toulouse following away defeats at Llanelli and Edinburgh.

Their preparations took another blow with the late withdrawal through injury of outside-half Alex King who injured his hand in training the previous day. Irishman Jeremy Staunton took his place.

However matters soon got worse for the English champions as they were brushed aside by a rampant Toulouse outfit in a powerful opening.

Elissalde got Toulouse on the scoreboard after slotting over two penalties, while Staunton scuffed his first chance, before the home side conjured a candidate for try of the tournament.

France back-row Yannick Nyanga had already gone close minutes before when Frederic Michalak sparked a stunning length of the field attack that ended with Wales captain Thomas scoring.

Michalak burst out of defence inside his own 22-yard line before releasing Florian Fritz. Xavier Garbajosa then cut inside before finding Thomas in support. Elissalde converted for a 13-0 lead after just 12 minutes.

Wasps gradually re-found their rhythm and Fritz was sent to the sin bin for a professional foul by Welsh official Nigel Owens as the pressure told.

Paul Sackey twice went close with Tom Voyce and prop Alistair McKenzie both looking dangerous.

It was Voyce who got Wasps back into the contest on the stroke of half-time when he stepped past two defenders before sending hooker Raphael Ibanez crashing over in the fourth minute of added time.

After a free-flowing first 40 minutes, a tightly contested second-half descended into a midfield struggle between both sets of packs and it was left to the opposing kickers to compete in a shoot-out as scoring opportunities dried up.

Elissalde nudged the French giants ahead after Wasps prop Tom Payne was shown the yellow card for punching.

Toulouse could not shake off their visitors as Mark Van Gisbergen slotted over two penalties to help Wasps cling onto Toulouse’s coat-tails.

But it was not enough as Toulouse suffocated the pace in the Wasps back division to hold on for an important, if not memorable, victory.