Reduced to 14 twice, Ugo Mola’s men could not cope with the Irish steamroller and lost (41-22) on Saturday at the Aviva Stadium.
The maxim is surely redundant, it remains true nonetheless: the shocks of this standing are played out in details. This is even truer when they oppose clubs as prestigious and experienced as Stade Toulousain and Leinster. Authors of the cleanest copy, Saturday, April 29, it was logically the Irish who won (41-22), thus winning their ticket to the final of the most prestigious of the European Cups.
Penalized by the injury of Pierre-Louis Barassi, two yellow cards, and weighed down by disagreements or bad choices, the Toulousains, champions of the 2021 edition, have far too complicated the task to afford the scalp of the Irish to Dublin and a new final.
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Antoine Dupont’s teammates nevertheless had those famous Toulouse-style flashes, those that make you think – against all elementary logic – that a reversal of the situation is always possible. At the opener from Ross Byrne on penalty, the Toulouse responded with a powerful try from Pita Ahki (7-3).
Following a ten-minute air gap, following the exit of Thomas Ramos (16th) sanctioned with a yellow card for voluntary forward, they conceded three tries (17th, 21st, 27th), but managed to stop the bleeding thanks to Emmanuel Meafou (35th, 27-14). At the break, the step was high, but still seemed accessible.
Like the XV of Clover, whose ranks are filled in large majority by players from Leinster, the Irish excel in the art of rounding their backs. Upon returning from the locker room, the Toulousans took more than a quarter of an hour to validate their domination after a hard fight. A riot of energy wasted in stride: yellow card against Rodrigue Neti (57th), try by Josh Van der Flier (58th, 34-17), then Jason Howell Jenkins (64th, 41-17). The last test for the honor of Toulouse signed Jack Willis (80th) did not change anything.
Of the five tries conceded by Toulouse, four were outnumbered. The kind of details that cost you a final.