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14-man Toulouse pull off Parisian miracle
By Online Editors
Toulouse overcame the first-half dismissal of Zack Holmes to beat Racing 92 22-21 in a thrilling Heineken Champions Cup quarter-final.
Holmes was sent off for a high tackle on Juan Imhoff midway through the first half with his side trailing 10-7, but tries from Maxime Medard and Antoine Dupont, his second of the game, gave Toulouse the upper hand.
Maxime Machenaud reduced the gap to three points with two penalties in the second half and although a penalty from Thomas Ramos gave Toulouse a 22-16 lead, the home side had a chance to snatch victory when Camille Chat went over in the corner.
However, Machenaud could not land the difficult conversion and the home side also had a try from Virimi Vakatawa disallowed in the closing minutes after he was penalised for an infringement at the lineout.
Toulouse will face defending champions Leinster in the semi-final following Leinster's victory over Ulster on Saturday.
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Latest Comments
My ‘fantasy’ team V Ireland,
Including options from ABXV if needed, as V Mun better V Ireland better prep than England.
The most important aspect V Ireland is AB need ALL their loosies AND 'loosie capable locks' on ALL match [except IF(?) any tiring ie the aging & slowing eg Cane]. As follows,
{starting} bench (3rd choice)
1 {De Groot} / Tu’ungafasi (Williams)
2 { anyone that can throw!! }/ Aumua (Brodie McAlister)
Ryan! coach lineouts & Aumua to throw!
3 {Lomax}/ Tosi (Newell )
Tosi immense strength V England
4,5 Locks { P.Tuipulotu, S.Barrett }, Vaa’i, Darry
( Isaia Walker-Leawere)
Vaa’i off V Eng. Assumed due to leg injury(?)
6,7,8 Loose forwards { Sititi, A.Savea, Cane } Vaa’i, S.Barrettm, P.Tuipulotu back up (Devan Flanders, Du'Plessis Kirifi )
9 {Roigard } Ratima ( TJ )
10 {D.McK} Perofeta ( Plummer)
12 {J.Barrett } ALB ( Q.Tupaea )
13 {Proctor} Ioane ( AJ Lam )
Ioane (off V England ) but Irish experience (NO not Sexton!)
14 { Tele’a} Reece (bkup W.Jordan )
11 {C.Clarke} Narawa (K.Naholo)
15 {W.Jordan} Love (Stevenson)
Go to commentsI guess the other option would be to start ALB, he's looked good in the 12 so far when he starts and sets up those outside him. But that would mean putting the vice captain on the bench, which is unlikely. Another option would be to drop Reiko to the bench and play Proctor, though he's gone home so that's not going to happen either.
Both of those players just offer more of the soft distribution skills good centres learn from playing their careers there. Unfortunately that's what's lacking with the current combo.
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