Rugby: the shock of Racing 92 in Toulouse

Incredibly, one of the hopes of Stade Toulousain and those of Racing 92, was the scene of an offensive festival out of the ordinary.

This Sunday, there was the match at the top of Pool 2 of the Espoirs Elite championship. Initially scheduled for the Easter weekend, this meeting indeed pitted the two leaders of the hen.

In this match, no less than seventeen tries were registered by the two teams, including twelve by the “Rouge et Noir”, and five by the Parisians.

Untenable, Toulouse’s Theo Idjellidaine, Romain Riguet and Theo Ntamack were already leading 40-0 at halftime. Before the second half was more balanced, but no less fiery.

This is called a Clash of the Titans! Long-awaited, the Espoirs meeting between Stade Toulousain and Racing 92, the first two in their pool, ended with a scarcely believable score: 80-35!

At home, Stade Toulousain (1st, 61 points), coming out of a last-minute victory against UBB (31-30), wanted to continue their impressive series: 14 matches, 13 wins (including 8 with bonuses offensive) for a single loss.

This is how long it took for Stade Toulousain to make their opponent of the day realize that the first leg would soon be a distant memory. Facing the strong wind, the Stadistes kicked off. Lacointa immediately made the receptionist pay the bill.

Ball recovered, dismissed and exploited by center three-quarter Riguet who, with a master kick, alerted his winger Epée. The admirable Nelson resumed his volley and pointed in the left corner (5-0, 1st). A few minutes later, the forwards were in their turn in working order: following a scrum at five meters and a departure from Ntamack, Ibanez he relayed before hooker Cramont scored his second try. Riguet transformed (12-0, 7th).

The Parisians got out of their apathy and got a penalty at 40, but the opener Spring missed the target (11th). With the support of the wind, the Ciel et Blanc sent the locals far back to their camp, but in return also offered many stimulus balls. On one of them, Ntamack found Riguet up to par before the Retière – Idjellidaine hinge combined in small spaces to send the third Hebert line between the poles: 19-0 with two extra points from Riguet (15th). To make matters worse for visitors, third line Tresse was hit with a box for collapsing a promising maul (18th). In the process, the Toulouse forwards took cover and, after a regular shelling, it was the second line Hamonou who crossed the line for a fourth try in just twenty minutes (26-0)!

The ball was blocked by a defender, but the Toulouse winger recovered after the rebound to score a brace. Riguet transformed again (33-0, 25th). Shortly before the half hour, it was Cramont’s turn to score a double after a good job of the bunch of forwards on a school casserole (40-0, 29th).

Untenable, Toulouse’s Theo Idjellidaine, Romain Riguet and Theo Ntamack were already leading 40-0 at halftime. Before the second half was more balanced, but no less fiery.

Even if the end of this first act was more balanced, it was indeed the Stade Toulousain which placed the last banderilla: against in touch, progression of Lacointa on the right wing, full axis return where the new entrant Ausset pierced before that Retière and Idjellidaine do not manage a new number of duettists to send Epée to sign a hat-trick (45-0, 40th + 4).

The good momentum was maintained: Racing 92 dominated, Toulouse defended and repeated faults. Vignolles was also given a white card (54th), leaving his teammates at 13. The Ile-de-France residents doubled the lead when, well put in the interval by Lindor on the 22-line, Tresse tore himself away and crossed the line. Spring added two points (52-14, 58th). If euphoria there might have been, it was short-lived since in the process Auriac took advantage of another excellent work from his teammates, first among them Epée and Ausset, to boost the score (59-14, 60th).

Among Toulouse, after Gruttadoria and Riguet, it was the inevitable Epée which put an end to the Toulouse surge with a long run on its left wing, thereby signing a personal quadruplet (75th). In the end, Stade Toulousain largely won this duel against its runner-up by a score of 80 to 35!

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Gabriel MIHAI

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