Luke McAlister: Tames the Tigers
Toulouse pivot Luke McAlister kicked six penalties to help his team to a well-earned 23-9 victory over Leicester in their Heineken Cup opener at Stadium de Toulouse on Sunday.
It was a vital home win for the hosts in the 'Pool of Death'.
The four-time champions were responsible for the only try being scored through rising star Gael Fickou, who put his team in front with a sensational solo touchdown before the break which proved to be the beginning of the end for the Tigers.
It was the hosts that opened up an 11-9 half-time lead through Gael Fickou's try and two McAlister three-pointers. Toby Flood responded for the visitors with three penalties, but 12 more points from the boot of the Kiwi fly-half in the second period sealed the win.
These two giants of European rugby have won six titles between them with the French side being the competition's most successful club with four victories.
However, the wet weather wasn't conducive for the open and expansive game most were hoping for. Instead, both packs battled to gain the upper hand in what was a relatively turgid affair.
Florian Fritz had threatened early on with a superb line off the shoulder of Louis Picamoles and Flood almost pounced on a loose kick from Clement Poitrenaud.
But it was the boot that dominated the majority of the opening period and it was the Tigers' stand-off that opened the scoring after Toulouse were penalised at the scrum.
McAlister soon levelled matters with one of his own before his opposite number regained Leicester's advantage.
A further three-pointer from the former New Zealand international once again put the teams on equal footing, but a cynical Gurthro Steenkamp trip saw the prop sin-binned.
And the visitors took advantage of his absence when Flood slotted a penalty as the Tigers led 9-6.
The hosts have been well-versed in bringing through talented youngsters and they seem to have found another in 18-year-old Fickou who brilliantly chipped through and re-gathered for a superb individual score.
Three consecutive McAlister three-pointers early in the second half saw the French outfit take control of proceedings as Leicester began to implode.
From another knock-on by the visitors, they infringed at the resulting set-piece and the opportunity was converted by the hosts' fly-half.
The rest of the game was primarily played in the Tigers' half, but Toulouse couldn't extend their advantage, although they went away with a comfortable and potentially vital victory.
The scorers:
For Toulouse:
Try: Fickou
Pens: McAlister 6
For Leicester:
Pens: Flood 3
Toulouse: 15 Clement Poitrenaud, 14 Vincent Clerc, 13 Florian Fritz, 12 Gael Fickou, 11 Yoann Huget, 10 Luke McAlister, 9 Jean Marc Doussain, 8 Louis Picamoles, 7 Thierry Dusautoir, 6 Yannick Nyanga, 5 Yoann Maestri, 4 Romain Millo Chlusky, 3 Census Johnston, 2 Gary Botha, 1 Gurthro Steenkamp.
Replacements: 16 Christopher Tolofua, 17 Jean Batiste Poux, 18 Antoine Guillamon, 19 Patricio Albacete, 20 Jean Bouilhou, 21 Yannick Jauzion, 22 Luke Burgess, 23 Timoci Matanavou.
Leicester: 15 Scott Hamilton, 14 Niall Morris, 13 Manu Tuilagi, 12 Anthony Allen, 11 Vereniki Goneva, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Jordan Crane, 7 Thomas Waldrom, 6 Steve Mafi, 5 Geoff Parling, 4 Graham Kitchener, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Tom Youngs, 1 Logovi'i Mulipola.
Replacements:16 George Chuter, 17 Marcos Ayerza, 18 Martin Castrogiovanni, 19 Ed Slater, 20 Richard Thorpe, 21 Sam Harrison, 22 George Ford, 23 Matt Smith.
Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
Comments
APV1 says...
@ pierredelot1 - I'm going to encourage my kids to learn Mandarin, it's likely to be more useful anyway..!
;-)
Posted 12:18 16th October 2012
lawynd says...
@pierredelot1 - Il ya au moins un Anglais qui parle Français correct. Puis-je obtenir un emploi au Sky? ;)
Posted 11:45 16th October 2012
pierredelot1 says...
oooh APV that was a bit naughty. There are many English speaking Frenchmen, Betsen, Castagnaide etc etc, but sadly virtually all commentary these days is nationalistic and the majority is poor at that. Biggest problem would be finding a French speaking Englishman frankly. Maybe they will hire Wilko when he retires, but for gods sake don't send Rolland.
Posted 10:06 16th October 2012
APV1 says...
@ Lucasrg - I'd fogotten the water boys. It was a little peculiar.
@ ArmchairGeneral - according to Cockers, England matches are where we should be playing out-of-form players back into form. Remember his comments about Flood? Isn't that right, lawynd..? ;-)
@ chancer - there are no English speaking Frenchmen. At least, none who'll admit it..!
Posted 16:22 15th October 2012
chancer says...
Why is it that we have Irish, Welsh, Scottish, Kiwi & Aussie commentators who for the most part provide biased nationalistic commentary. Why is it beyond Sky to find an English speaking Frencman to provide the other side of the opinion?
Posted 15:30 15th October 2012
chancer says...
Typical Harrison commentary
Posted 15:27 15th October 2012
Toulousain says...
Shame about the weather. Tigers fans were great as usual. But have to agree with others below, it feels like this season's Tigers squad is somehow less fearsome than in previous years. I don't know enough about who is injured or just coming back to fitness, and I really don't know individual players, but it felt like there was a lack of dynamism in the backrow and lack of ambition in the backline. They just did not look scary with the ball.
For ST, I don't really feel we played very well. It was OK at best. We have played worse this season of course!! but we have also played much better. WIth a dry ball, sunshine and hard pitch, I think we might have got a 4 try bonus point yesterday. I was a little surprised that we were so heavily penalised against in the scrum? And the lineout was very average. So we could never really "launch" good attacks. The backs never looked like the were comfortable throwing more than a 5m pass. And the forwards were not offloading as they can. Oh well. 4 points at home to start. It's not so bad.
It will soon be time to bring back Medard!! (Poitrenaud, much as we love him, is giving everyone sleepless nights....)
Posted 13:50 15th October 2012
lawynd says...
Rubbish. There, that's me being honest.
I still think Leicester are trying to go in the right direction but it's going to need a lot more, including possibly another coach to work with Cockerill and O'Connor with a different approach. It didn't help that we were missing Salvi in particular but I think the back row is probably now our greatest area of concern; beyond Waldrom, Croft and Salvi the cupboard is bare, especially with the loss of Newby and Crane appears to have gone backwards since his first couple of seasons at Leicester. And Youngs and Flood have shown again that they crumble when the pressure is on...I wonder how long it might be before Ford now supplants Flood in the 10 shirt because he's already showing the sort of game management that Flood can never muster.
Posted 11:40 15th October 2012
pierredelot1 says...
Same old Leicester, same old stuff. They didn't come to win, they showed little ambition and were in the end punished for it. Youngs and Flood poor decision makeing, but in attack they showed no flare no pace no idea. Allen very ordinary and Manu just back from injury didn't seem match fit, playing on the wing with that lot but have been pretty miserable. Fikou who is still only 18 years old got one opportunity and took it. I doubt anyone in the Leicester team would have had the flare to spot it, you feel everything is in the play book, everything is rehearsed and you don't step outside those perameters. First half fairly even, though Owens gave a lot in the scrum to Leicester and Cole seemed to end up on the deck far too often. Despite there being three No 8s on the pitch, only one stood out, Picamoles by a country mile(Man of the match really despite it going to Fikou). But it was the attitude that was different, Les Toulousain attacked with pace and flare, Leicester just plodded around. As a Brit watching this stuff you really begin to wonder where English Rugby is going, unless there is a considerable change in coaching methods and they start to realise that pace and flare are an important part of the game, the national game will not move forward. Yes the weather played a part, but it shouldn't affect the basic ambition. Leicester may very well bully there way past the Ospreys and Treviso, but at the top end they just don't do it for me.
Posted 09:03 15th October 2012
brands says...
good to see a kiwi proping up yet another competition.
Posted 05:25 15th October 2012
TVaddict says...
-Toulouse totally deserved the win.
-Ben Youngs should not be starting. It was pretty even up to around 50 or 60 minutes, then a few stupid decisions from him gave Toulouse all the momentum. Care and Dickson for the autumn games for me.
-I don't rate Crane at all, also made bad decisions. He takes contact when he should pass and vis versa, gets isolated, and doesn't make much of an impact in any areas of the game.
-Leicester need a new attack coach, too long have they played bullying predictable rugby. Comparing them to other teams, even within the premiership, they're attacking lines look amateur.
Posted 22:43 14th October 2012
jontheref says...
A great game, hard fought.
Only downside was the poor commentating.
The banal comments, when 20 seconds to go, Harrison actually seemed to believe leicester had it in them, (and would have deserved it!) to have scored a converted try at the death, to secure a losing bonus point.
TJ obviously though Smith should have been carded for his tackling a player without the ball, but Owens decided otherwise.
Leicester needto shake off this, and make some changes.
Posted 20:13 14th October 2012
lacroix says...
youngs and flood aren't good enough to live at this level. outclassed.
think the scoreline seriously flattered leicester
Posted 19:35 14th October 2012
ArmchairGeneral says...
Lucas RG. Agree, Ben Youngs is off form. Lancaster should leave him with Leicester for November and let Simpson and the Dicksons and perhaps Wigglesworth fight for 2nd and 3rd squad spots. Tell Youngs to find form for the six nations. As for Leicester they need a 7 on the pitch. I hear talk of this being the best tigers squad in years. I'm not seeing it. The only Aviva club to do badly this weekend.
Posted 19:16 14th October 2012
Lucasrg says...
The game was not great due to the greasy conditions. Toulouse scrum was clearly superior in every aspect of the game. Only when Ayerza and Castro went in there was a more stable scrum, but still not good enough. Ben YOungs should have been replaced just after the break. Very poor passing and decision making by the scrum half. I think Dany Care and Simpson are much better atm.
Picamoles is definitely getting better and McAlister super natural kicker make those tedious kick-to-goal moments very quick and painless to watch. Thank you!
Thanks also to Nigel Owens for giving us always something awkward to listen to...that water-boys argument was pretty entertaining!
Posted 17:09 14th October 2012
melkdave says...
Well dreadful conditions ,but hats off to Toulouse played them well,and put the pressure on 2nd half ,and got the result.That said Leicester where just poor,handling wasnt upto scratch,and some of the decision making was very poor,coupled with a bad spell of giving away soft needless penalties.Bet RC is even now letting the hair drier loose at full apeature,and heat.Going to take an outstanding performance now imo against Ospreys ,to save Leicesters challange imo.
Posted 17:05 14th October 2012