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Toulouse snatch dramatic late win to knock Ulster out of Champions Cup

By PA
Ulster v Toulouse – Heineken Champions Cup – Round of 16 – Second Leg – Kingspan Stadium

Toulouse turned the tables on Ulster and dramatically booked their place in the Heineken Champions Cup quarter-finals by beating the 14-man Irish province 30-23 at the Kingspan Stadium to seal a 50-49 aggregate win.

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Tries from Thomas Ramos, Romain Ntamack and skipper Antoine Dupont, along with three conversions and three penalties from Ramos, tipped the scales Toulouse’s way.

However, the key moment in the contest came in the 64th minute when replacement prop Tom O’Toole was red-carded for a dangerous hit on Anthony Jelonch.

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Meafou on playing for France

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Meafou on playing for France

Ulster had led several times after bringing a 26-20 lead back from the first leg in France. Ethan McIlroy scored two tries for them, with John Cooney kicking both conversions and three penalties in a game they led 20-17 at half-time.

First blood was drawn by the visitors, with a second-minute penalty being kicked by Ramos after Jelonch won a breakdown. From the kick-off, Robert Baloucoune was yellow-carded for hitting Jelonch in the air.

Three minutes later Dimitri Delibes was sent to the bin by referee Matthew Carley for lifting and dumping Ethan McIlroy, and shortly afterwards Ramos took a quick lineout throw near his corner flag and threw the ball to Dupont who tried to run out.

Dupont was nailed by Michael Lowry and Ulster gobbled up the loose ball, with James Hume providing the assist for McIlroy to score. Cooney converted and Ulster were up 7-3.

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Ramos cut Ulster’s lead to just one point after 13 minutes but when Toulouse strayed offside, Cooney did the needful to put Ulster four in front.

However, after 21 minutes, Ntamack combined with Dupont to cut Ulster open and put Ramos in under the posts, the full-back also converting. Toulouse now led 13-10 and had cut Ulster’s aggregate lead to just three points.

Ulster v Toulouse - Heineken Champions Cup - Round of 16 - Second Leg - Kingspan Stadium

Five minutes later, Ntamack ran in from distance after intercepting a Cooney pass, Ramos again converting to put the visitors 20-10 in front.

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The half ended with Ulster striking back when, with a penalty advantage, Billy Burns cross-kicked and McIlroy did really well to gather and score. Cooney added a terrific conversion to cut Toulouse’s lead to three points on the night, with Ulster now 43-40 ahead on aggregate.

Twelve minutes into the second half, Cooney landed his second penalty to tie the scores but nudge Ulster back into a six-point aggregate lead.

Ulster v Toulouse - Heineken Champions Cup - Round of 16 - Second Leg - Kingspan Stadium

Lowry then escaped any card after clattering Ramos in the air prior to the Toulouse full-back landing a 63rd-minute penalty to nudge the French visitors in front on the scoreboard and cut the overall margin over the two legs to just three.

Another blow to Ulster rapidly followed when replacement O’Toole was sent off for hitting Jelonch four minutes after the hour, but the home side still managed to get the next scoring opportunity from a lineout penalty. Cooney slotted the three points to tie the scores on the night.

But with five minutes remaining, Toulouse ran a touchfinder back with Ntamack going left and Dupont sliced through at the posts, with Ramos again converting to put the visitors back in front at 30-23 and one point in front over the two legs.

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Sam T 3 hours ago
Jake White: Let me clear up some things

I remember towards the end of the original broadcasting deal for Super rugby with Newscorp that there was talk about the competition expanding to improve negotiations for more money - more content, more cash. Professional rugby was still in its infancy then and I held an opposing view that if Super rugby was a truly valuable competition then it should attract more broadcasters to bid for the rights, thereby increasing the value without needing to add more teams and games. Unfortunately since the game turned professional, the tension between club, talent and country has only grown further. I would argue we’re already at a point in time where the present is the future. The only international competitions that matter are 6N, RC and RWC. The inter-hemisphere tours are only developmental for those competitions. The games that increasingly matter more to fans, sponsors and broadcasters are between the clubs. Particularly for European fans, there are multiple competitions to follow your teams fortunes every week. SA is not Europe but competes in a single continental competition, so the travel component will always be an impediment. It was worse in the bloated days of Super rugby when teams traversed between four continents - Africa, America, Asia and Australia. The percentage of players who represent their country is less than 5% of the professional player base, so the sense of sacrifice isn’t as strong a motivation for the rest who are more focused on playing professional rugby and earning as much from their body as they can. Rugby like cricket created the conundrum it’s constantly fighting a losing battle with.

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Ed the Duck 10 hours ago
How Leinster neutralised 'long-in-the-tooth' La Rochelle

Hey Nick, your match analysis is decent but the top and tail not so much, a bit more random. For a start there’s a seismic difference in regenerating any club side over a test team. EJ pretty much had to urinate with the appendage he’d been given at test level whereas club success is impacted hugely by the budget. Look no further than Boudjellal’s Toulon project for a perfect example. The set ups at La Rochelle and Leinster are like chalk and cheese and you are correct that Leinster are ahead. Leinster are not just slightly ahead though, they are light years ahead on their plans, with the next gen champions cup team already blooded, seasoned and developing at speed from their time manning the fort in the URC while the cream play CC and tests. They have engineered a strong talent conveyor belt into their system, supported by private money funnelled into a couple of Leinster private schools. The really smart move from Leinster and the IRFU however is maximising the Irish Revenue tax breaks (tax relief on the best 10 years earnings refunded at retirement) to help keep all of their stars in Ireland and happy, while simultaneously funding marquee players consistently. And of course Barrett is the latest example. But in no way is he a “replacement for Henshaw”, he’s only there for one season!!! As for Rob Baxter, the best advice you can give him is to start lobbying Parliament and HMRC for a similar state subsidy, but don’t hold your breath… One thing Cullen has been very smart with is his coaching team. Very quickly he realised his need to supplement his skills, there was talk of him exiting after his first couple of years but he was extremely shrewd bringing in Lancaster and now Nienaber. That has worked superbly and added a layer that really has made a tangible difference. Apart from that you were bang on the money… 😉😂

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