Toulouse dominate Castres
Bryon Kellher had the Castres defence in all kinds of trouble
Toulouse brought Castres back down to earth with a bump as the giants of French rugby dominated their hosts to easily win 16-6 at Pierre-Antoine on Wednesday.
After beating Clermont in a shock result last Friday, Castres were looking for their second big scalp in a couple of days. Toulouse however played with class and composure to run out easy winners.
With Toulouse having to catch up the postponed match because of their Heineken Cup obligations, the sides went into their second game of three in a week with unusual line-ups.
Toulouse sent a makeshift team to Castres with French international centre Yannick Jauzion playing in an unfamiliar role at fly-half.
The hosts rotated their team ahead of their match against Brive on Sunday and made no less than eleven changes to the squad that upset Clermont.
South African wing Bertus Swanepoel opened the scoring, slotting a penalty in his part-time role as Toulouse place-kicker. Jauzion and Swanepoel each failed in attempting drop-goals, with Swanepoel pushing his 50 metre effort just wide, before the South African doubled Toulouse's lead with his second penalty.
Castres full-back Romain Teulet pulled three points back for the hosts just after the half-an-hour mark.
Shortly afterwards, Toulouse captain Fabien Pelous left the field after taking a knock to the head and was replaced by Romain Millo-Chluski.
With a Heineken Cup Final on the horizon, the visitors were taking no risks with their charismatic leader and Pelous was soon standing on the sidelines in a fresh shirt and smart trousers, cheering his team on.
Bryon Kellher provided the first fireworks after the half-time break, piercing the Castres line and starting a move that saw Swanepoel stopped one metre short of the Castres line. The South African was denied the try but slotted the ensuing penalty to make it 9-3.
Toulouse were turning the heat up on their hosts and when Daniel Saayman went off seeing stars, Castres looked to be in trouble. Saayman was replaced by Matthieu Bonello and for the second time in five days Castres obliged the referee to signal uncontested scrums.
With twenty minutes to play Toulouse put a foot on the accelerator. A stylish switch move between Jauzion and Manu Ahoteialoa created a try for left wing Yves Donguy. It was Donguy's fourth in two matches after scoring a hat-trick in Toulouse's eleven try demolition of Auch on Friday.
With ten minutes to play "Robocop" Teulet kicked his second penalty to keep the game alive. Then in a desperate attempt to save the home side a bonus point, Teulet unsuccessfully attempted a last minute drop.
The result signals Toulouse's return to top form in the French championship. They are now just two points behind leaders Clermont and still well on course for a European-French Championship double while Castres's hopes of making the Top 14 semi-finals have come to end.
The Scorers
For Toulouse:
Try: Donguy
Con: Swanepoel
Pens: Swanepoel 3
For Castres:
Pens: Teulet 2
Toulouse: 15 Cédric Heymans, 14 Bertus Swanepoel, 13Manu Ahotaeiloa, 12 Maleli Kunavore, 11 Yves Donguy, 10 Yannick Jauzion, 9 Byron Kelleher,8 Shaun Sowerby, 7 Thierry Dusautoir, 6 Jean Bouilhou (c), 5 Patricio Albacete, 4 Fabien Pelous, 3 Omar Hasan, 2 Alberto Vernet Basualdo, 1 Daan Human.
Replacements: 16 Romain Millo-Chluski, 17 Jean-Baptiste Elissalde, 18 William Servat, 19 Salvatore Perugini, 20 Gregory Lamboley, 21 Mathieu Bélie, 22 Maxime Médard.
Castres: 15 Romain Teulet, 14 Laloa Milford, 13 Phil Christophers, 12 Laurent Marticorena, 11 Bradley Fleming, 10 Cameron McIntyre, 9 Sébastien Tillous-Borde, 8 Josefa Tekori, 7 Alexandre Bias, 6 Gerhard Vosloo, 5 Lionel Nallet (c), 4 Rodrigo Capo Ortega, 3 Daniel Strydom Saayman, 2 Romain Terrain, 1 Carl Hoeft.
Replacements: 16 Luc Ducalcon, 17 Lei Tomiki, 18 Anthony Lagardère, 19 Matthieu Bonello, 20 Tim Barker, 21 Matthieu Bourret, 22 Florian Faure
Venue: Pierre-Antoine
Referee: M. Matheu