Toulouse romp into quarters
Toulouse beat Harlequins 33-21 to book a place in the Heineken Cup quarter-finals at the Stade Ernest-Wallon.
By Danny Wright
Last Updated: 17/01/10 5:47pm
Toulouse booked their place in the Heineken Cup quarter-finals with a resounding 33-21 victory over bottom club Harlequins in Pool Five.
The hosts had the better of the opening exchanges, the ever present Jean-Baptiste Elissalde kicking the first points of the match.
It was Quins who bagged the first try though, Mike Brown going over in what proved to be a rare foray forward.
Elissalde kicked two more penalties before the break and converted after Florian Fritz touched down to make it 16-7.
Jean Bouilhou cashed in on 49 minutes for another try, Elissalde again converting, with Cedric Heymans soon adding another five points.
Quins lost Ceri Jones to the sin bin and the hosts took full advantage, Fritz sending Maxime Medard over to secure a four-try bonus point that confirmed their passage into the next round.
Ugo Monye - a rare bright spot for Harlequins - scored two late tries to reduce the final deficit.
Tentative opening
Guy Noves' side had produced a stunning turnaround in the round two clash between the two sides earlier in the season at the Stoop and they set about inflicting a fourth successive defeat on the Londoners.
Toulouse had the chance to put some early points on the board, and Fritz's penalty from half-way had the distance but not the accuracy, as it sailed just wide of the posts.
The visitors were also struggling to find their radar as Nick Evans skewed a penalty well wide, although Monye nearly stole in for the first try - but he failed to latch onto Danny Care's over-hit grubber.
Elissalde had the chance to kick the first points with 15 minutes played, but again his kick from distance was shy of the posts in what was a tentative opening from both sides.
The number 10 did not have to wait long to get his side ahead though, as he kicked three points after 19 minutes to reward Toulouse's early pressure.
Harlequins were by no means overawed by their star-studded opponents, and they produced the best sequence of the match to produce a well-worked try.
Care carried the ball forward and skipped a challenge, before off-loading to Tom Guest down the Quins' left.
The flanker continued his run, before off-loading a pass to the onrushing Brown, who went over unchallenged.
Toulouse complained that Guest's pass was forward, but the officials were not interested and Evans converted to make it 3-7 in the visitors' favour.
Quins were caught napping with half-an-hour gone when they allowed the Toulouse backs time and space to split their defence open.
David Strettle made an excellent challenge just shy of the line to deny a certain try, but his team were punished for not rolling away from the ruck.
That gave Elissalde the chance to reduce the deficit to one point, which he duly did with his second penalty.
And the 32-year-old put his side in the lead with another penalty three minutes later to get the home fans on their feet.
Harlequins have endured a torrid Heineken Cup campaign and chances of recording their first Pool Five victory were severally reduced when they gifted Toulouse a try.
Daylight
Heymans read a sloppy pass out of the scrum, and he held the ball up for Fritz to go over unopposed, Elissalde doing the rest to take a 16-7 lead into the interval.
Quins needed to respond early in the second half, however Toulouse carried on in the same vein and put 16 points of daylight between them.
They needed just five more minutes to register their third converted try, some close link-up play paying dividends when Bouilhou went over from fellow flanker Thierry Dusautoir's sharp off-load.
Things got worse for Harlequins when prop Jones was given a yellow card for impeding Elissalde, and the French side took ruthless advantage by adding another try.
Heymans was the beneficiary, the centre going over after Fritz picked him over with a raking pass out of the scrum.
Fritz's enjoyable afternoon continued when he claimed another assist, this time playing a lovely dinked kick in behind the Harlequins defence for Medard to touch down.
The try piled more misery on the sorry visitors, and booked Toulouse's passage into the quarter-finals of the competition.
Monye showed why he earned a call up to the England EPS squad when he rampaged down the left and retrieved his own kick to execute a try that Evans converted.
And the winger added another just before the final whistle, but the day still belonged to Toulouse.
