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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
i think Argentina v France could be a good game too, depending on which Argentina turns up. The most difficult to call is Scotland Australia.
Go to commentsSmith is playing a different game with the rest of the backs struggling to understand. That's the problem with so called playmakers, if nobody gets what they're doing then it often just leads to a turnover. It gets worse when Borthwick changes one of them, which is why they don't score points at the end. Sometimes having a brilliant playmaker can be problematic if a team cannot be built around them. Once again Borthwick seems lacking in either coaching or selection. I can't help but think it's the latter coupled with pressure to select the big name players.
Lastly, his forward replacements are poor and exposed either lack of depth or selection pressure. Cole hemorrhages scrum penalties whenever he comes on, opponents take advantage of the England scrum and close out the game. Is that the best England can offer?
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