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Rugby Union

Toulouse class shines as they reach Heineken Cup final

26/04/2008

Tries from Manu Ahotaeiloa and Yannick Nyanga helped Toulouse to a 21-15 victory in their Heineken Cup semi-final clash with London Irish.

Though the French side were missing Vincent Clerc and Thierry Dusatoir for the Twickenham match-up, the superb kicking of Jean-Baptiste Elissalde saw Toulouse through after a Topsy Ojo try had put the Exiles ahead.

Elissalde put the first points of the game on the board with a penalty on 11 minutes, after Nick Kennedy had strayed offside at the breakdown only for Peter Hewat to put London Irish on level terms four minutes later.

And despite a spell of sustained pressure from the Toulouse pack, it was London Irish who took the initiative as the first half reached its halfway stage, with Ojo finishing off a superb backs move with aplomb, leaving Elissalde flat-footed before barging through Cedric Heymans to cross for the try, with Hewat converting.

A nervy riposte from Toulouse followed with captain Fabian Pelous wasting a golden opportunity by throwing a wild pass in the direction of Yves Donguy rather than slipping the ball inside to the oncoming Heymans.

But in a disastrous five-minute spell for London Irish, the French side stamped their authority on the game, Ahotaeiloa cutting back from the touchline to touch down before Nyanga put Toulouse in the lead after diving over from the back of a ruck. With Elissalde converting the second, the Madejski Stadium side went to the dressing room on the wrong side of a 10-15 scoreline.

The Zurich Premiership side started the half superbly, however, with Sailosi Tagicakibau using his strength to crash past another weak Heymans tackle and put his side back in the game.

Yet again, though, Toulouse showed their clinical edge, with two Elissalde penalties in quick succession giving his side a six-point lead after unforced errors from London Irish.

Byron Kelleher put in a last-ditch tap tackle to prevent Ojo scoring on the hour and ten minutes later a spell of free-flowing back play started by Shane Geraghty came to an underwhelming end when hooker David Paice fluffed a grubber kick through the Toulouse defence.

And while London Irish tossed the ball around with abandon in an attempt to keep the game alive, Toulouse held on to reach another Heineken Cup final.