Toulouse thump Sharks in Champions Cup quarterfinal

CHAMPIONS CUP REPORT: The Sharks have been knocked out of the Champions Cup after they suffered a 20-54 defeat to Stade Toulousain in their Champions Cup quarterfinal in Toulouse.

The five-time European champions outscored the visitors by seven tries to two in the match with captain Antoine Dupont and fullback Thomas Ramos running the show.

The scoreline might suggest that it was a comfortable win for the French side, but they only had a six-point lead heading into the final 12 minutes of the game.

The team from Durban seemed to run out of energy in that period with Toulouse running in four tries.

Toulouse’s win sees them book a semifinal at Leinster, who thrashed Leicester Tigers on Friday, on the weekend of 28/29/30 April.

The Sharks were well in contention for the first hour and notched tries through Grant Williams and henry Chamberlain, with Curwin Bosch adding 10 points from the tee, but the semifinals proved a step too far in the South African side’s debut EPCR season.

After a breathless opening to the game, Toulouse suffered a setback when wing Juan Cruz Mallía was sin-binned for high tackle on Sharks counterpart Makazole Mapimpi.

Flyhalf Bosch put the visitors in front from the resulting penalty, but Toulouse survived the period with a man down, even dotting down through fullback Ramos, though that effort was chalked off by the TMO for a forward pass.

Ramos levelled the scores with a penalty on 22 minutes before the Sharks produced a moment of magic, Bosch dummying and breaking from deep before sending scrumhalf Williams under the posts for the game’s first try.

Bosch’s conversion moved his side seven points clear, but Ramos struck from the tee again on 31 minutes, and although he was denied a try brilliantly by Sharks wing Werner Kok, Toulouse would cross moments later when Cruz Mallía finished superbly in the corner.

Ramos couldn’t add the extras but struck his third penalty on the stroke of half-time to see Toulouse take a 14-10 lead into the second period.

Ramos was off target with a drop-goal attempt early in the second half but he would notch a third try seconds after the restart following his attempt. Cruz Mallía and Dupont combined before the latter unselfishly set up Ramos, who could dot down and add the extras.

The Sharks then enjoyed a prolonged period of pressure on the Toulouse line, and just as the home side looked to have survived, fullback Chamberlain straightened and sprinted across in the corner.

Bosch converted from the touchline to reduce the deficit to four points again, but Toulouse responded in style, Cruz Mallía sliding over for his second of the afternoon as he completed a slick counter attack.

Ramos couldn’t add the extras and Sharks were back within striking distance again when Bosch nudged his second penalty of the game on 66 minutes.

However, Dupont would set up three tries in quick succession as Toulouse ran riot over the closing stages, offloading to hooker Peato Mauvaka from close range before exploiting a tiring Sharks defence to send Ramos and then replacement wing Retiere over.

Toulouse added a seventh try in the final play as flyhalf Ntamack dummied twice and produced a strong hand-off to cross, Ramos capping his Star of the Match performance with a fifth conversion.

Man of the match: Sikhumbuzo Notshe had another great performance with ball in hand. He was the go-to man to get the Sharks over the advantage line. Flyhalf Curwin Bosch was lethal with ball in hand and his outstanding run in the first half set up Grant Williams' try. Scrumhalf Antoine Dupont was at the heart of everything Toulouse did on attack and he had hand in a number of tries. However, the award goes to Toulouse fullback Thomas Ramos who was at his best at fullback. His kicking game put the Sharks on the back foot and he also scored two tries in the match.

The scorers:

For Toulouse:

Tries: Mallia 2, Ramos 2, Mauvaka, Retiere, Ntamack

Cons: Ramos 5

Pens: Ramos 3

For Sharks:

Tries: Williams, Chamberlain

Cons: Bosch 2

Pens: Bosch 2

Yellow card: Juan Cruz Mallia (Toulouse, 9' - foul play, high tackle)

Teams:

Toulouse: 15 Thomas Ramos, 14 Juan Cruz Mallia, 13 Pierre-Louis Barassi, 12 Pita Ahki, 11 Matthis Lebel, 10 Romain Ntamack, 9 Antoine Dupont (capyain), 8 Francois Cros, 7 Thibaud Flament, 6 Jack Willis, 5 Emmanuel Meafou, 4 Richie Arnold, 3 Dorian Aldegheri, 2 Peato Mauvaka, 1 Cyril Baille.

Replacements: 16 Guillaume Cramont, 17 Rodrigue Neti, 18 David Ainu’u, 19 Alexandre Roumat, 20 Joshua Brennan, 21 Alban Placines, 22 Arthur Retiere, 23 Dimitri Delibes.

Sharks: 15 Henry Chamberlain, 14 Werner Kok, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 12 Rohan Janse van Rensburg, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Curwin Bosch, 9 Grant Williams, 8 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 7 Vincent Tshituka, 6 Siyamthanda Kolisi (captain), 5 Gerbrandt Grobler, 4 Hyron Andrews, 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Mbongeni Mbonambi, 1 Retshegofaditswe Nché.

Replacements: 16 Kerron van Vuuren, 17 Ntuthuko Mchunu, 18 Carlü Sadie, 19 Jeandre Labuschagne, 20 Phendulani Buthelezi, 21 Cameron Wright, 22 Ben Tapuai, 23 Thaakir Abrahams.

Referee: Karl Dickson (England)

Assistant Referees: Christophe Ridley (England), Jonathan Healy (England)

TMO: Tom Foley (England)

Additional source: @ChampionsCup