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Gloucester beaten by Toulouse in Champions Cup opener

(Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Scrum-half Joe Simpson scored two magnificent tries but it was not enough to get Gloucester’s European campaign off to a winning start as they were beaten 25-20 by Toulouse in the Champions Cup.

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Simpson’s two first-half efforts temporarily took the wind out of French sails but Toulouse regrouped to dominate the second half by scoring 16 unanswered points and ran out deserved winners.

Danny Cipriani converted both of Simpson’s tries and kicked two penalties to complete the scoring for Gloucester. Sebastien Bezy scored a try for Toulouse, which Thomas Ramos converted as well as kicking four penalties, with Romain Ntamack kicking another penalty and Zack Holmes adding a drop goal.

A knock-on from Gloucester wing Tom Marshall surrendered early possession and the visitors took advantage to take the lead with a neat drop goal from Holmes. Toulouse continued to have the better of the opening exchanges but, against the run of play, the hosts scored a brilliant opening try.

From just outside their 22, Gloucester nicked a lineout for Simpson to burst away and inter-pass with Matt Banahan before the scrum-half ran 55 metres to just hold off the tackle of Ramos and crash over.

(Continue reading below…)

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Ten minutes later, Simpson scored an even better one. Clever play from international three-quarters Yoann Huget and Ntamack had taken the French menacingly into the home 22 but the visitors lost possession for Simpson to pick up and run fully 80 metres for a superb score.

Toulouse were stunned but still continued to dominate territory and possession and were rewarded with a penalty from Ramos. He then kicked another penalty but Cipriani succeeded with two to give Gloucester a 20-9 lead at the end of a breathtaking first half.

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Toulouse brought on Scotland international lock Richie Gray and withdrew outside half Holmes at the interval and the changes paid immediate dividends when Ntamack and Ramos both kicked penalties to reduce the deficit.

The French dominated the third quarter as they penned the hosts in their own half but despite some excellent ball-handling skills, they were unable to break down a stubborn Gloucester defence and remarkably the home side still held a 20-15 lead going into the final quarter.

However, Gloucester had to crack against a fierce onslaught and Bezy was on hand to secure the crucial touchdown which Ramos converted to put his side into the lead for the first time.

Mark Atkinson was then penalised for a late tackle and Ramos knocked over the resulting kick to complete Toulouse’s comeback.

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– Press Association

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F
Flankly 2 hours ago
There remains a culture of excuses in Australian rugby

One team has exceeded expectations in this series and the other has not. Hats off to a Wallabies team in rebuild mode for a smile-inducing effort in the second test (especially the first half).


Completely agree that a top ranked team finds ways to defend a big half-time lead, and they did not quite pull it off. The fact that Piardi did not run the Head Contact Process in the 79th minute Tizzano/Morgan incident is worth discussion. However, Schmidt will be pointing out to the team that avoiding a defensive breakdown on your own 5m line at that point in the game is the thing in their control. Equally, clarification 3-2022 says you cannot jump or dive as a means of avoiding a tackle, as Sheehan admits to have done, but the question for Australia is why and how they were facing a tap-and-go 5m from their line (again).


Where I disagree with this article is the suggestion that Australia are caught in an excuse-making trap of poor performance. For me they are on a steep curve of improvement, and from what we have seen of Schmidt, there is little reason to assume that this will end now. Granted Australia lacks player depth, and that’s a real problem against big teams and in major campaigns. But the Lions are a pretty good team, probably ranking in the top five in the world, and the rebuilding Wallabies were seconds (and a couple of 50/50 ref calls) away from beating them at the MCG.


In the end, the Wallabies are building to a home RWC, and were expected to lose the Lions series on the way to that goal. Success looks like being seriously competitive in the series loss, with good learnings about what needs to be fixed. A series win would have been a fantastic bonus, and humiliation for the UK/Ireland team.


I expect the Wallabies to be very credible in the 2025 RC, to be much better in 2026, and to be a very challenging opponent for any team in the 2027 RWC.

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