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Silenced: Toulouse's Heineken Cup hopes suffer a set-back
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- Min-by-min: How Toulouse got stung
- Glasgow go out on a high
Toulouse missed out on hosting a Heineken Cup quarter-final after they were beaten 21-16 by Wasps at Adams Park on Sunday.
The reigning champions had Florian Fritz sent off in the second half but still looked set to escape with a draw when the scores were level in the final minute.
However David Lemi had other ideas, getting on the end of a loose ball before it ran dead to clinch Wasps a place in the last eight of the Amlin Challenge Cup.
While they will now make the short trip to London rivals Harlequins next, Toulouse have to face up to a tough away day at fellow Top 14 heavyweights Biarritz in what is a repeat of last year's all-French final.
All this came after an opening quarter that had seen Toulouse take complete control.
David Skrela had already missed a penalty by the time Yannick Jauzion broke the deadlock in the 11th minute with a try that was gifted to him by some sloppy Wasps tackling.
An offload by Clément Poitrenaud, who released the ball quickly after claiming an up-and-under, sent the centre scampering away, though he should have been stopped by the combination of Mark van Gisbergen and Ben Jacobs.
The conversion was successful from Skrela but the number 10 was unable to slot over a long-range penalty as points continued to go begging.
Wasps eventually responded from the initial onslaught with a penalty from Dave Walder before the game was turned on its head by a yellow card.
Toulouse's Louis Picamoles was sent to the sin bin by referee Alain Rolland and then had to watch on from the sideline as his team-mates leaked 10 points in his absence.
It did not take long for the home side to make the most of their numerical advantage; 10 phases through the forwards from the resulting penalty led to Richard Haughton touching down not long after replacing van Gisbergen.
The former Saracens winger came back on the angle to accept scrum-half Joe Simpson's delayed pass back on the inside and race over.
Walder converted to give the home side an unlikely lead with 35 minutes gone and a further penalty from their fly-half sent them in to the break five points in front.
Any thoughts Toulouse had of launching a second-half onslaught, particularly with Picamoles' return to the field, disappeared seven minutes after the restart when Fritz was given his marching orders.
The centre was shown a red card for a spear tackle on Wasps winger Tom Varndell, leaving his side to play over half an hour with only 14 men.
Walder kicked the resulting penalty to make it 16-7 - only for the hosts to give the three points straight back when they foolishly tried to attack from deep.
Skrela kicked a further two penalties to bring the scores level, the second of which came after Serge Betsen had been sin-binned when Roland finally ran out of patience with the flanker going off his feet at rucks.
Toulouse twice attempted, and failed, drop goals to put themselves in front, but seemed satisfied with a draw as time ticked away. Lemi had other ideas, though, kicking over the top and then beating Nicolas Vergallo to the ball.
The scorers:
For Wasps:
Tries: Haughton, Lemi
Cons: Walder
Pens: Walder 3
For Toulouse:
Tries: Jauzion
Cons: Skrela
Pens: Skrela 3
Wasps: 15 Mark van Gisbergen, 14 Tom Varndell, 13 Ben Jacobs, 12 Dom Waldouck, 11 David Lemi, 10 Dave Walder, 9 Joe Simpson, 8 Andy Powell, 7 Serge Betsen, 6 Joe Worsley, 5 Richard Birkett, 4 Simon Shaw, 3 Zak Taulafo, 2 Tom Lindsay, 1 Tim Payne.
Replacements: 16 Joe Ward, 17 Charlie Beech, 18 Ben Broster, 19 Marty Veale, 20 James Cannon, 21 Nic Berry, 22 Riki Flutey, 23 Richard Haughton.
Toulouse:15 Clément Poitrenaud, 14 Vincent Clerc, 13 Florian Fritz, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 11 Maxime Medard, 10 David Skrela, 9 Jean-Marc Doussain, 8 Louis Picamoles , 7 Thierry Dusautoir, 6 Yannick Nyanga, 5 Patricio Albacete, 4 Yoann Maestri, 3 Census Johnston, 2 William Servat, 1 Daan Human.
Replacements:16 Virgile Lacombe, 17 Jean-Baptiste Poux, 18 Yohan Montes, 19 Grégory Lamboley, 20 Nicolas Vergallo, 21 Cédric Heymans, 22 Frédéric Michalak, 23 Shaun Sowerby
Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)
Comments
coonor says...
@gauca
I agree that referees are inconsistent and I think there needs to be more regulations for when to produce cards.
Posted 16:48 27th January 2011
gauca says...
@coonor
In light of that im not going to argue with your opinion on the incident in its own right.
However I hope you will concede that the two yellows were feeble and that referrees consistently fail to apply the law you state regularly which is why I think if you compare the incident to others I think Fritz was hard done by IMO.
Moreover, referres currently seem to want to punish certain incidents almost to fill a quota and yet allow so much other foul play. For instance they allow people to grapple around players necks in maul situations, lift legs, shoulder charge frequently, swinging forearms above theshoulder to name but a few. Yet these types of play which I consider as bad if not far worse than the Fritz tackle lucky to merit a yellow.
My problem with Rollaind is as much a problem with a woeful lack of consistency in interpretation of the laws accross the board. Would I see reds issued more frequently for such tackles I would have no problem but even then so much other foul play will continue to carry on unpunished.
Posted 08:41 26th January 2011
coonor says...
Law 10.4
(j) Lifting a player from the ground and dropping or driving that player into the ground whilst that player¿s feet are still off the ground such that the player¿s head and/or upper body come into contact with the ground first is dangerous play.
Sanction: Penalty kick
The IRB Spear Tackle Memorandum
Date: 8 June 2009
Subject: Dangerous Tackles
In 2007, the IRB Council approved a Laws Designated Members Ruling which essentially made it clear that tackles involving a player being lifted off the ground and tipped horizontally and were then either forced or dropped to the ground are illegal and constitute dangerous play.
At a subsequent IRB High Performance Referee Seminar at Lensbury referees were advised that for these types of tackles they were to start at red card as a sanction and work backwards.
Unfortunately these types of tackles are still being made and the purpose of this memorandum is to emphasize that they must be dealt with severely by referees and all those involved in the off-field disciplinary process.
To summarise, the possible scenarios when a tackler horizontally lifts a player off the
ground:
1 The player is lifted and then forced or ¿speared¿ into the ground. A red card should be issued for this type of tackle.
2 The lifted player is dropped to the ground from a height with no regard to the
player¿s safety. A red card should be issued for this type of tackle.
3 For all other types of dangerous lifting tackles, it may be considered a penalty
or yellow card is sufficient.
Referees and Citing Commissioners should not make their decisions based on what they consider was the intention of the offending player. Their decision should be based on an objective assessment (as per Law 10.4 (e)) of the circumstances of the tackle.
(read this form the IRB and you will realise that Rolland was right in his decision)
Posted 17:16 25th January 2011
JeanLucJoinel says...
toulouse didn't play well but were still by some distance the better team. whats happened to wasps? desperately poor at times.
the referee made several dubious calls- including the betsen yellow which smelt of an attempt to redress the balance, but toulouse made some very poor tactical decisions, missed some chances and the result is a fantastic tie in the quarters- biarritz v toulouse. rugby the winner, non?
Posted 22:50 24th January 2011
nakedirishman says...
On the Fritz tackle, I felt it definitely was above the horizontal and, more crucially, Varndell was driven into the ground - ie no pulling out of the tackle having lifted him into a dangerous position. He may not have landed on head or neck, but he did hit the ground with his shoulder.
It's a decision that warrants a red according to the laws (as written) but I must admit I was surprised to see the red, if only because refs normally bottle these calls in favour of yellow with the safety net of citing committees...
Posted 03:54 24th January 2011
any1buttheABS says...
Gauca said "Fritz didn't take Varndell above the horizontal and brpught him down horizontal as well which is not a spear tackle"
So thats ok then !, break his neck or deliberately try to injure a fellow proffesional as long as its technically not a spear tackle !!! Ref's performance was fine, if players play by the rules then there is no need for the him to make those decisions, both Toulouse and Wasps.
Posted 19:22 23rd January 2011
alanatleeds says...
Credit to Gauca for a very balanced comment. It seemed to me that Alain Roland felt guity at giving the red card and subsequently gave all the next decisions in favour of Toulouse. As a neutral (Leeds Carnegie fan but watching on French TV) I think Wasps just deserved to edge it, especially when Toulouse went into familiar "drop from 50 metres" mode.
Posted 18:54 23rd January 2011
gauca says...
Firstly to say credit to Wasps for winning.
That said I have nether seen such a feeble yellow card (picamoles) in my life, what a bad call. And to further the refs poor display Fritz didn't take Varndell above the horizontal and brought him down horizontal as well which is not a spear tackle, a yellow at best if your being harsh. Though Fritz was bated by the crowd he deserves whatever sanction for his gesturing back at them, no need for it. Betsen too got a feeble yellow. Bad performance all round by the ref.
As a Toulouse fan i'm not going to say those cards to Toulouse cost them the game, thats all hypothetical and they didn't play well enough to win in any case so no probs in the result. But those decisions were terribly poor at this level of competition.
Posted 17:12 23rd January 2011