To believe that Stade Toulousain likes to complicate the task, as if after walking on water last season, he preferred the flavor of adversity to seek success. Saturday, May 7, he won his bet by very little after a crazy and extremely rare scenario concluded by a penalty shootout. Toulouse won in a stifling final (24-24, 4-2) in the quarter-final of the Champions Cup, Saturday May 7, against the Irish of Munster.
Stade Toulousain first showed their best face, the one that led them to the roof of Europe and the Top 14 last season, for almost half an hour, before making a series of bad choices, and to see Munster pass in front of him, then to snatch the extensions.
The last time I played a penalty shootout match was in crabos. It’s still a crazy match, they could have put a drop, us too. We were hot against the Uslter, we were hot again tonight, but this match is only a stage.
Thomas Ramos, back of Stade Toulousainat the microphone of France 2 after the meeting
On alternating current, the people of Haut-Garonne lacked the pragmatism to avoid such a final. Like Antoine Dupont, author of an overly ambitious revival aborted in the Toulouse 22 meters, Ugo Mola’s men took risks in the scoring areas by wanting to continue to pack the meeting. They multiplied the errors and were punished (trials by Earls and Haley, 39th and 44th).
Lost touch and missed drop, forwards, delay in support, the Toulouse missed the opportunity to drive the score. By losing nearly 19 balls, they especially offered a number of gifts on which the Irish threw themselves. They notably experienced a nightmarish return from the locker room, conceding a 17-0 in 17 minutes and conceding a yellow card (Arnold, 51st).
But if this Toulouse no longer manages to be as flamboyant for 80 full minutes, it does not lack character. That of a champion. The Ntamack-Ramos duo, who carried Toulouse, is the perfect example. Thanks to its opener and its rear, and a scrum which crushed the Irish for a long time, Toulouse responded perfectly to the first try of the Munstermen (10th, 7-0) with a very successful try from the international opener (12th), then de Lebel (26th, 14-7).
It was also on a scrum won at the end of the match that Toulouse snatched extra time thanks to a penalty from Thomas Ramos (75th, 24-24). Requested for the penalty shootout, Dupont-Ntamack-Ramos did not tremble.
This victory allows the outgoing defending champion to qualify for the last four of the competition for the fourth consecutive year. Toulouse will face Leinster who brought down Leicester. La Rochelle qualified after dominating Montpellier.