Toulouse 42-27 Wasps: French side stay top of Pool 1 after eight-try thriller
Last Updated: 15/12/18 6:31pm
Toulouse moved a step closer to the Heineken Champions Cup quarter-finals with a 42-27 bonus point victory over Wasps at the Stade Ernest-Wallon.
The four-time European champions retained top spot in Pool 1 with Wasps now mathematically out of the equation.
Tries from Yohan Huget, Joe Tekori, Romain Ntamack and two from Antoine Dupont plus 17 points from the boot of Thomas Ramos were enough to secure the win.
Wasps scored three tries of their own courtesy of Josh Bassett, Willie le Roux and Ross Neal, with Billy Searle kicking 12 points from the tee.
The home side crossed for their first try within three minutes with Huget intercepting a loose pass from Le Roux in the Wasps 22 to cross at the far left hand corner.
Wasps then ground their way into the Toulouse half with Searle cutting the home side's lead to two points with a successful penalty attempt.
Thomas Young sparked his side into life with a 30-metre break down the touchline before being brought down. The ball was eventually recycled with Le Roux and Young showing some terrific handling to put Bassett over for their first try and a 10-5 lead.
Toulouse hit straight back with the softest of offloads from Sofiane Guitoune releasing Tekori who sidestepped Le Roux to score.
The hosts continued to lay siege to the Wasps line as they looked to power their way over, the ball eventually recycled to Jerome Kaino who put Ntamack over with a nice pass that pushed Toulouse 19-10 ahead.
However, Wasps kept coming back at their hosts as Elliot Daly broke clear from deep in his own half. The England international ran all the way to the Toulouse 22 before finding Le Roux on his shoulder, with the Springbok running in unopposed.
Toulouse had a try disallowed just before the interval when Huget spilled the ball forward over the line after a neat pass from Ramos. Searle and Ramos then exchanged penalties to leave Toulouse 22-20 ahead at the break.
It took the home side a mere three minutes of the second half to secure the bonus-point try as Huget hit the perfect angle before his inside pass sent Dupont over.
But Searle dragged Wasps back into the game with his searing inside break releasing Le Roux on his outside who sent Neal flying over the tryline.
The home side finally pulled clear of Wasps when an offload from Zak Holmes sent Ramos racing 30 metres up field before the full-back put Dupont over for his second, and Ramos capped a fine performance with a late penalty.