Harlequins v Toulouse: Five takeaways as European royalty sparkles at The Stoop

James While
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Toulouse star Thomas Ramos celebrates after scoring a try.

Toulouse star Thomas Ramos celebrates after scoring a try.

Following Toulouse’s stunning seven try 19-47 win over Harlequins in the Champions Cup on Sunday here are our takeaways.

The Top Line

A brilliant display of attacking ambition fused with physicality and power in breakdown and defence saw visitors Toulouse smash Harlequins at The Stoop to take them to the top of their Pool after Round Two of the 2023/24 Champions Cup.

Seven tries from Pierre Louis Barassi (8′)(50′), Dmitri Delibes (12′), Peato Mauvaka (35′), Matthis Lebel (42′), Rodrigue Neti (74′) and Thomas Ramos (76′) were answered only by three from the hosts who saw Andre Esterhuizen (10′) and Irne Herbst (39′)(46′) cross the whitewash. French fullback Thomas Ramos was immaculate in his less favoured position of flyhalf, where he racked up 17 points, with a try and six successful conversions.

The game started with a rousing round of applause for TalkSport Rugby commentator Russ Hargreaves, a self-confessed Harlequins supporter, who sadly passed away a week ago. Russ wouldn’t have enjoyed today’s result but it’s absolutely assured he’d have approved wholeheartedly of the performance of Toulouse and the spectacle both teams produced.

Defence key

When two sides are so loaded with attacking threat and skilled ambition, results tend to be defined by the relative quality of set piece and defence, and that was most certainly the case at the Stoop as the Toulouse D triumphed over that of Quins.

At the heart of it we saw a predictably abrasive and accurate performance from the ruck monster himself Francois Cros who had a great duel around the breakdown with Harlequins’ Will Evans, a man that didn’t take a step back in defeat, whilst Player of the Match Emmanuel Meafou stood huge alongside his back row colleagues in getting the bosh into the breakdown.

Cros and his colleagues were joined in their defensive shift with the excellence of both Toulouse centres, Pita Akhi and Pierre-Louis Barassi, who closed down so much of the Harlequins’ trickery at source. However, some Quins fans were mightily unimpressed that Akhi was allowed back onto the pitch after a horrendous head clash with Dino Lamb that saw the big Quins lock stretchered off after a worrying 10 minutes unconscious on the pitch.

Mauvaka Shines

The loss of a world-class hooker such as Julien Marchand would have an impact on any team, whether it be France or Toulouse. That is, unless you have a player of the calibre of Peato Mauvaka hiding up your sleeve.

Mauvaka is hardly an unknown quantity having shone for France in the 2022 Six Nations but since Marchand’s thigh injury at the Rugby World Cup, the Toulouse hooker has taken his game to absolutely new heights, demonstrating mobility and handling skills better suited to a test centre than a front row plodder.

He struck yet again in this match, in the 35th minute, flying straight through the middle of Quins’ defence after some brilliant build-up work from Ramos and Dupont stretched the home team’s defence, leaving a gaping hole for the Test hooker to power his way through.

But it was his assist of the Matias Label try early in the second half that will live long in the memory of all who saw it; a Toulouse line out 25m out saw Mauvaka throw in, then loop around into half back. Label came in straight from his wing on an oblique angle and received the most wonderful pop pass from the hooker to pile over for Toulouse’s fourth try, a move straight off the training ground but executed brilliantly at pace and under pressure.

Ramos v Smith

A game within a game between two absolute artists of rugby with versatility at their core was probably shaded by the free-running Frenchman as Ramos cut and carved his way into the Quins’ defence on a number of occasions, notably directly after the Toulouse 10 had been cleaned up in midfield by Esterhuizen. Andre the giant simply powered his way down route one into flyhalf and out the other side to score Harlequins opener, a clear case of ‘vamos, Ramos’ as the big Quin flew in under the posts.

However, Ramos’ answer was to rip Quins apart in their midfield, beating Evans and Esterhuizen before slick hands from Ahki and Cros saw Delibres scoot over in the corner for a memorable try.

Smith had his moments with ball in hand, pulling Toulouse apart on a number of occasions, notably in the last minute of the first half when Herbst crashed over for his first of the evening after some lovely touches in midfield.

But at times again he displayed a little inaccuracy in his kick strategy, firstly hooking an easy penalty to touch in the opening exchanges, but thereafter struggling to really challenge the Toulouse defence at the back with exits and box kicks. It was a lovely match within a match to watch these two modern exponents of running rugby, but in the final analysis, it was Ramos who shaded this personal battle.

Dombrandt Disappointed

Harlequins skipper Alex Dombrandt paid due tribute to the power of Toulouse when he admitted his team had endured a tough day at the office:

“I thought Toulouse were absolutely outstanding”, Dombrandt commented.

“I think definitely in some areas we really put our best foot forward I think in some we didn’t have too much to lose, but in the areas when you don’t quite get it right they punish you. And you know, when the game got a bit loose like it was today, they’re probably one of the best teams in the world to play that style of rugby.

“We had full belief in ourselves and in our squad that any team we play against we can win against. Unfortunately, that wasn’t to be today, but I think we’ll come out of here with some good learnings and we’ll have a couple of days off now brush ourselves down and get excited to go back into the premiership where we’re sitting in a really good position.”

Veteran tighthead Will Collier added “We wanted to challenge them around the breakdown but when you have a team with that level of speed at getting the ball away with only one or two men at the ruck it’s impossible to make it into a contest. They really caused us issues in that area and it’s something we’ll need to look at as we move forward both in Europe and the Premiership.”

READ MORE: Classy Toulouse score seven tries as they dismantle Harlequins away from home

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