If Toulouse was able to strike first at Gerland, LOU were able to deploy their game after the break to claim victory against the leader of the Top 14 (21-14) and climb back to fourth place in the standings.
Lyon knew how to seize the opportunity. While Toulouse was to deplore a plethora of absentees after the international break, in particular Antoine Dupont or Cyril Baille, the Rhone club brought down a leader of the Top 14 who sees his pursuers swoop down on him. However, it was Ugo Mola’s men who got their hands on the ball from the first moments of the game. An ascendant in the game which ended up materializing after a quarter of an hour thanks to Romain Ntamack, who was signaled by a failure against the posts for his first attempt of the season. Absent with Toulouse since September 11, the opening half of the XV of France was able to maneuver after an unproductive carried ball. Playing on foot for himself, he was able to trap the Rhone defense and recover the ball to flatten the first try of the game. But the Toulouse number 10 did not know at this time of the meeting that he had scored the only points of his training before the last minutes. Lyon’s response came shortly before the half-hour mark via Léo Berdeu. After finding the post at the very start of the match, the LOU striker adjusted the sights to close the gap.
Lyon played their game
It is only one length from Toulouse that the Rhone club has found its locker room. From the start, Ugo Mola brought in experience with Richie Arnold who took the place of Théo Ntamack in the third row. However, it was Lyon who struck first in this second act. Seven minutes after kick-off, Davit Niniashvili materialized the goodwill of Xavier Garbajosa’s players. The Georgian back enhanced an action initiated by Baptiste Couilloud with a good relay from Léo Berdeu, allowing the Lyon club to take the lead for the first time since the start of the match. An ascendant that Ethan Dumortier did not fail to concretize on the scoreboard 25 minutes from the siren. The LOU winger first saw his teammates try to force the passage with the forwards then Davit Niniashvili was called on wide to combine with Ethan Dumortier. The latter opened the passage towards the in-goal with a perfectly executed fake pass. After failing on the transformation, Léo Berdeu gave his side fourteen points with just over ten minutes to play.
Toulouse leaves empty-handed
With fresh blood and in particular the premiere of Jack Willis in his new colors, Toulouse have put all their forces into battle to try to bring back at least one point from their trip to Gerland. Lucas Tauzin thought for a time that he had found the fault on a wide game and a long pass from Ange Capuozzo. However, the latter was clearly ahead and the referee logically canceled this try. By dint of putting pressure, the players of Ugo Mola pushed their opponents to the fault and Dylan Cretin saw the end of the match from the bench, paying for the growing indiscipline of his training. A numerical superiority that Toulouse quickly improved. all in power, Alban Placines found the solution to bring his team back to seven points. Nevertheless, the opportunity to snatch the draw did not present itself. Toulouse concedes a second defeat in three games (21-14) and sees its lead over La Rochelle and Racing 92 shrink to just four points. With this second success in a row, the LOU remains in contact with the podium, taking advantage of the misstep of the Stade Français Paris.
