Top Performers: Toulouse vs Connacht
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Round 2 of Champions Cup rugby brought two rugby giants in Toulouse and Connacht.
Toulouse, with home ground advantage managed dominant their Irish opposition today in a game that started off tightly and opened as both teams go into the game.
In fact, Tom Farrell was the first on the scoreboard with a beautiful try in the 11 th minute.
Receiving the ball from Ultane Dillane who had just broken through a tackle, the outside centre beat the last man with a dummy and strolled over with some ease.
However, it did not take that long for Toulouse to get themselves back into the game with Sebastien Bezy having enough momentum to cross over the whitewash in the 14th minute.
Both these sides tries were easily converted, meaning that scores were level in the first quarter of the game.
Caolin Blade then went over in the 25th minute. A yellow card to Colby Faingaa left Connacht with 14 men and Toulouse capitalised immediately.
Yoann Huget responded in the 34th , Thomas Ramos missed the conversion leaving the home side trailing at half time (12 – 14).
Toulouse came out of the tunnel guns blazing, putting in big hits and looking like a changed team. As a result, they managed to score 20 points in the second half against a lonely Conor Fitzgerald drop goal in the 49th minute. There were scores by New Zealand international, Jerome Kaino and second half substitute Pita Ahki.
Ahki’s 81st minute try sealed the victory as he managed to pick the ball up from the break down, running over for the bonus point try.
There were key performances from Thomas Ramos who carried for 100 metres, beating 4 defenders and making two clean breaks. This was from his 14 carries.
There was also a fine performance from Maxime Medard. The fullback come left winger managed to also beat 4 defenders from his 52 metres carried.