O'Toole red decisive as Toulouse book likely Aviva Stadium date with Munster
Ulster's Ethan McIlroy scores his second try in the Heineken Champions Cup Rd of 16 tie at Kingspan Stadium in Belfast
Antoine Dupont broke Ulster hearts as he dragged defending champions Toulouse into the quarter-finals of the Champions Cup with a try five minutes from the end of a pulsating round-of-16 second-leg tie at the Kingspan Stadium.
The France scrum-half had what was, at best, an average game to that point, but he was on hand to finish a frenetic kitchen-sink period of play, as Toulouse threw themselves at Ulster’s defensive line, reduced 10 minutes earlier by a red card for replacement prop Tom O’Toole.
Ramos converted Dupont’s late score to make the score 23-30 on the night, enough to see Toulouse through to the last eight 49-50 on aggregate.
The victory sets up Toulouse for a trip to play Munster in the quarter-finals. However, with Thomond park unavailable due to an Ed Sheeran concert, it is likely the game will be confirmed for the Aviva Stadium in Dublin.
It had seemed, until Dupont’s decisive intervention, that Ethan McIlroy’s first-half double would be enough to end Toulouse’s reign.
But O’Toole sending off 15 minutes from time, two minutes after coming on for Martin Moore, for a shoulder to the head of Toulouse’s Anthony Jelonch proved to be the decisive moment in a match apparently filled with decisive moments.
McIlroy had opened the scoring with a walk-in in the 11th minute, after Toulouse fullback Thomas Ramos had thrown team-mate Antoine Dupont under a bus with an ill-judged quick throw-in near his own line.
It was too easy for Ulster to dispossess the isolated Dupont and work the ball wide to the lurking McIlroy in the wide open spaces beyond Toulouse’s defensive line.
If the winger’s first score was relatively straightforward, his second was brilliant, as he leapt high to catch Billy Burns’ crossfield kick while at full tilt and dotted down in the corner two minutes from the halftime whistle. John Cooney converted both tries.
The game was, if possible, played at a higher tempo than last Saturday’s first leg in Toulouse. Rob Balocoune and Dimitri Delibes were both sin-binned within the game’s first six minutes for separate dangerous tackles.
And the visitors, despite still not hitting the rugby-out-of-chaos heights that are expected of them these days, scored two tries of their own to prove Ulster coach Dan McFarland’s ‘15 seconds’ warning after last week’s match worryingly prescient.
Their first was a teasing reminder of just what the Top 14 side are capable when they do get it right. Romain Ntamack broke Ulster’s line with a dummy and go, slipped the ball to Dupont on his inside - where else would he be? - and he gave Ramos a run-in from 30 metres.
Their second, five minutes later, owed more to good fortune. Ntamack was in the right place at the right time to gladly accept Cooney’s pass in his own 22 and win the race to the tryline.
Cooney levelled the scores on the night 14 minutes into the second half, to restore Ulster’s six point aggregate lead. Ramos then dragged the difference back to three, before Cooney again restored Ulster’s advantage from the tee 12 minutes from time.
With a player advantage, Toulouse threw everything at Ulster - but their own sloppiness looked set to be their undoing until Dupont, who had switched to out-half for the final act, touched down.
Lowry; Baloucoune, Hume, McCloskey, McIlroy; Burns (Lyttle 59’, Moore 69’), Cooney; Timoney, Vermeulen, Rea (Murphy 54’); Henderson, O'Connor (Treadwell 53’, O’Connor 77’); Moore (O'Toole 62’), Herring, Warwick (O'Sullivan 62’).
: Roberts, Doak, Marshall.
Ramos; Delibes, Nanai-Williams (Germain 73’), Ahki, Lebel (Tauzin 11’); Ntamack, Dupont; Jelonch, Tolofua (Flament 53’), Elstadt; Ri. Arnold (Meafou 53’), Ro. Arnold (Miquel 63’); Faumuina (Aldegheri 51’), Mauvaka, Neti (Ainu'u 62’).
M. Carley (England)
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