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| 13 April 2003, 5:33 pm |
| Toulouse Take The Glory In Heineken Cup Quarter-Final |
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TOULOUSE 32
NORTHAMPTON SAINTS 16
Heineken Cup quarter-final
Stadium de Toulouse
Saturday, April 12, 2003
The second half try by replacement wing Jon Sleightholme was enough to give the Northampton Saints' supporters some hope, but it was not enough to take Saints into a semi-final spot of this season's Heineken Cup.
A try from Toulouse replacement Cedric Heymans took the French side out of sight on top of a first half try from No 8 Christian Labit, five penalties from fly-half Yann Delaigue and a 51-metre penalty kick from scrum-half Frederic Michalak.
The game began in a nervy style with both teams committing errors in front of a 30,000-plus, intimidating crowd. Saints' fly-half Paul Grayson settled nerves slightly with a penalty in the seventh minute, despite the deafening cacophony that he met from the Toulouse supporters.
But Saints' lead was to be a short-lived one as Delaigue showed he could more than match England's No 2 kicker by answering Grayson's first penalty back five minutes later, and then added a further three to his first-half tally compared to Grayson's two. And it looked as if the first half was going to end on 12-6 until the heat was well and truly turned up when an altercation broke out between wingers Ben Cohen and Vincent Clerc on the touchline. Tempers were certainly frayed as the first half came to an end and made worse for the visitors when Labit stormed through Saints' defence following a Toulouse lineout. Delaigue kicked the conversion and brought the half-time score to 19-6.
Saints returned to the field without inside centre Chris Hyndman, who had to be taken to hospital with concussion. He was ably replaced by Mark Tucker, but Saints soon suffered another blow when captain Budge Pountney was sent to the sin-bin for what he does best - stealing the ball. By that time, Grayson and Delaigue had swapped penalties to take the score to 22-9 after 49 minutes.
Saints then lost another experienced player when full-back Nick Beal was taken off the field after he injured his neck in a tackle. He was replaced by Sleightholme, who wasted no time in getting involved in the action by taking advantage of Toulouse being a man down after centre Cedric Desbrosse was also sent to the sin-bin. Sleightholme's try came as a result of a quick-tap penalty taken by scrum-half Matt Dawson and taken on by flanker Andrew Blowers and prop Tom Smith to the waiting wing. Grayson kicked the conversion and Saints were back in with a shout on 25-16.
But it was not to be. Just at the time when Saints looked like they had claimed some momentum, a Grayson pass sailed through wing James Brooks's hands and into the kickable reach of Heymans. He chased his kick all the way to the line and scored the second try Toulouse had been searching for. It was all over for another year for Saints, to end a disappointing seven days for the Franklin's Gardens faithful.
Teams:
Northampton Saints - Beal (Sleightholme 54mins); Brooks, Reihana, Hyndman (Tucker 38mins), Cohen; Grayson, Dawson; Smith, Thompson, Stewart (Budgen 47mins (Stewart 75mins)), Lord (Soden 79mins), Phillips (Hunter 62mins), Connors (Soden 34-40mins), Pountney (capt), Blowers.
Toulouse - Poiternaud; Ntamack (Heymans 66mins), Desbrosse (Jauzion 75mins), Garbajosa, Clerc (Heymans 37-40mins); Delaigue, Michalak; Collazo, Bru, Poux, Gerard (Lamboley 80mins), Peluos (capt), Brennan (Maka 56mins), Boulihou, Labit (Servat 70mins).
Referee:
Alan Lewis (Ire)
Touch judges:
David McHugh & Olan Trevor (Ire)
Scorers:
Northampton Saints - Try: Sleightholme; Con: Grayson: Pens: Grayson (3).
Toulouse - Tries: Labit, Heymans; Cons: Delaigue (2); Pens: Delaigue (5), Michalak.
Yellow cards:
Pountney (49mins)
Desbrosse (56mins)
Attendance:
32,000
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