Exeter Chiefs v Toulouse winners and losers: Antoine Dupont turns ‘everything to gold’, while Devonians defence coach ‘ripping hair out’ after record-equaling loss
Toulouse secured a comprehensive win over Exeter Chiefs at Sandy Park
Following Toulouse’s 64-21 victory over Exeter Chiefs in the Investec Champions Cup, here are our winners and losers from an enthralling game at Sandy Park.
Winners
Antoine Dupont
Everything Antoine Dupont touched seemed to turn to gold tonight, as the best player in the world justified that tag. Toulouse were under the pump for large parts of the first-half, but he was able to come up with moments of magic to get his side on the front foot and over the line. He found himself at the heart of a lot of their tries and continued his fine scoring form in the competition with a try of his own. Another ridiculously good performance from the French skipper.
Francois Cros
Quickly gaining a reputation as one of the best back-rowers in the world, Francois Cros was immense in the victory tonight. His deft offload created Dupont’s opening try, which was one of his three try assists, but elsewhere he just worked his socks off and popped up in the exact areas his team needed him to make a big intervention. His work in the lineout was also brilliant and denied Exeter plenty of chances as a result.
Matthis Lebel
A lot of the focus is put on the triple axis of Dupont, Romain Ntamack and Thomas Ramos in this Toulouse backline, but Matthis Lebel was a consistent threat in attack and was by far one his side’s best performers. He was able to just find space when there seemed to be none and as a result was able to drag his side up the pitch.
Pierre-Louis Barassi
A classy performance all round from Toulouse’s number 13. He nabbed himself two well-taken tries, and just proved to be a consistent threat all round. Exeter’s midfield is still developing a connection, and he exploited that mercilessly with some brilliant carries.
Ross Vintcent
Just plays rugby with a serious desire and anger, and he was once again a standout for Exeter in defeat. Rolled his sleeves up and whacked everyone that ran down his channel in defence, and packed a serious punch in the carry too against an almighty opposition. Interestingly, he was given the unenviable task of directly man-marking Jack Willis, and did it pretty well. Just another great showing to follow on from his brilliant autumn for Italy.
Tommy Wyatt
What a performance from the English winger, who should be banging on the door for a call-up for England A pretty soon. The spotlight will be shone on his two tries, which came from very clever support lines, but yet his work around the park was deserving of these. Like wing colleague Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, he came off his edge plenty of times to look for work and had a decent go of it too. Defensively, he also did a decent job of managing X-factor opponent Juan Cruz Mallia, which will certainly be another tick in his box.
Champions Cup
It’s been a pretty tough start to the Champions Cup this year, with conditions across the continent taking their toll on games, but this was just a thoroughly entertaining game for the full 80 minutes, and was the exact advert the competition needed. It was competitive, despite the scoreline, and importantly it had a lovely blend of both grunt and power in the tight and beautiful flowing rugby.
Losers
Stu Townsend
Copped a very cheap yellow card at the end of the first-half, which allowed Toulouse to then run away with the game as the visitors scored a whopping 19 points in that period.
Haydn Thomas
The new defence guru will be ripping his hair out at some of the tries his side conceded. For the most part, they were actually solid in defence and actually managed the monstrous pack, but yet one missed tackle in midfield just allowed Toulouse to teleport up the pitch and score with relative ease. He’s come in with a big job on his hands, especially given their porous defence this year, but the same sort of errors are creeping their way into his system, and he needs to get them out fast.
Chiefs lineout
It wasn’t one of Exeter’s finest showings in the lineout, as time and time again Toulouse were just able to disrupt it. Be it the Mr Tickle arms of Cros nabbing the ball in mid-air, or even an over-compensated throw which then flew over the heads of Richard Capstick and Rusi Tuima, the lineout was a big source of Exeter’s missed opportunities tonight.
Exeter Chiefs record books
Whilst Exeter should take plenty of positives out of the game, it proved to be a record-equaling defeat at Sandy Park. The Devonians’ heaviest-ever home losses have all been by 43 points, at the hands of both Sale Sharks and Clermont Auvergne, and that was the tally the defending champions put on them tonight at Sandy Park. There will be some serious questions asked around the group after this, even with the competitive performance.
