Top 14 round-one: Toulouse embarrasses Agen
Toulouse made no mistakes this weekend as they cruised to their first victory of the season, at home in round one of the Top 14 season, which crowns the best rugby union team in France..
This weekend Toulouse showed why they are one of the league favourites to challenge for the title. They led the match from start to finish, and never let Agen get close. Toulouse pushed out to a 17-point lead at the half, and continued their domination in the second stanza, winning convincingly 44-24.
Recap
Toulouse settled into their game early, with fly half David Skrela registering a penalty in the ninth minute.
The Skrela score was followed quickly by a William Servat try in the 13th minute to make it an 8-0 game early.
Valentin Courrent closed the gap by hammering home a penalty in the 21st minute. However the excitement was short-lived, as centre Yann David bowled his way across the line just two minutes later.
Toulouse did not let up either, as Yannick Jauzion powered his way through the crowd to touch down the home side’s third try of the match, which was followed by a Skrela conversion in the 31st minute, to make it a 20-3 game.
Only a minute later Toulouse continued their dominance as winger Maxime Medard also crossed the line for a try, and Skrela registered his second conversion of the game to make it 27-3.
Romain Edmond Samuel managed the first try of the game for Agen in the 36th minute, however Toulouse still took an impressive 27-8 lead into halftime.
After the break Skrela kicked a penalty to make it 30-10, and in the 56th minute full-back Clement Poitrenaud continued the onslaught by putting up the bonus try, along with a Skrela conversion to make it 37-10.
Medard managed his second try of the game and Skrela put through his fourth extra point to make it 44-10 in the 63rd minute.
Despite two late tries from centre Miguel Avramovic, and Edmond Samuel respectively, Agen was not able to get back into the match, and Toulouse was able to watch the clock run down on a convincing 44-24 first round win.
Toulouse put on an impressive display and made their case for the class of the Top 14 this season, amassing six tries from five different players.
Agen meanwhile performed admirably, putting home three tries, and getting a strong kicking game. The superiority of Toulouse was simply too much for them to handle.
Analysis
Toulouse made their presence known after round-one, displaying their ability to spread around the ball, as well as their sheer depth. They certainly are one of the league favourites to take home the championship.
Agen will have to get used to these tough battles as they are considered one of the favourites for relegation at the end of the year. Nevertheless, they performed well against a difficult opponent.
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