Toulouse survive Biarritz late surge to book place in Heineken Cup semi-final
Results at the end of last Sunday’s Heineken Cup quarterfinal suggest that the current French Top 14 leader Toulouse are on their way for their fifth title win as they have defeated the Biarritz Olympique.
Toulouse won the Heineken Cup when they beaten the Biarritz in the final. The Sunday’s game was termed as the re-match of the last year finals however, it exceeded the expectations.
Such are the matches which are remembered, referred and discussed in the years to come. At the end of the first half, not many would have thought that teams could deliver such an exciting and thrilling contest that would eventually be decided in the extra
time.
Biarritz Olympique definitely would be disappointed to concede the game away during the last minutes of the extra time after recovering from the 17-point deficit during the second half.
During the first half of the match played at Stade d'Anoeta, San Sebastian it was all Toulouse affair. Toulouse were phenomenal in both their attack and in defense as they ended the first half with the scorecard reading 17 – 0 in Toulouse favour.
Both teams started the match slowly as they ease their nerves. Toulouse were first to put score on board as their Full Back Cedric Heymans scored a penalty during the 15th minute of the game. This was followed by Toulouse Fly Half David Skrela’s conversion.
Toulouse was on top of their game and they gave no opportunities to Biarritz to score however, they capitalised on the every available opportunity. Toulouse Winger Maxime Medard scored the second try of the game during the 25th minute followed by the Scrum
Half Nicolas Bezy’s conversion.
This was followed by Skrela’s 36th minute penalty to take the score to 17 – 0 that remained the same until the end of the first half.
Biarritz started the second half with urgency and were write on the money until the start. Biarritz during the first 18 minutes of the second half was able to score 12 points to reduce the lead to just five points.
All the Biarritz points were scored by their Scrum half Dimitri Yachvili by kicking four penalties in 41st, 46th, 57th and 68th minutes respectively. The five-point lead was looking like a daunting task however during the 78th minute Biarritz Winger Ilikena
Bolakoro scored the try to equalise the score. Both sides tried hard to score in the remaining time but no one succeeded.
Toulouse were again in lead after Skrela scored a penalty during the 82nd minute. In next 12- 14 minutes both teams fought for ball possession and territory gain. However it was Biarritz who again levelled the score with their Scrum Half Yachvili scoring
his fifth and last penalty of the game.
Biarritz only hopes for winning the match was to find a way to score which they were unable to do. Toulouse scored their third and decisive try during the 97th minute through their substituted Flank Yannick Nyanga. This was followed by the Skrela’s conversion
that took his total for the match to 10 points.
Toulouse with big wins in their bag will take on the Leinster during the first semi-final of the Heineken Cup which will be played at Aviva Stadium, Dublin.
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