Toulouse edge Bath at the death

An last-gasp penalty from fly-half David Skrela allowed Toulouse to clinch a 18-16 victory over Bath in their Heineken Cup opener at the Stade Municipal on Sunday.

An last-gasp penalty from fly-half David Skrela allowed Toulouse to clinch a 18-16 victory over Bath in their Heineken Cup opener at the Stade Municipal on Sunday.

No-one could complain that the protagonists didn't try to have a go. Open the game certainly was, pretty it wasn't. One would have expected Toulouse to play their trademark champagne rugby, but Bath were doing their damndest to out-risk their French hosts.

Bath's expansive attitude knew no bounds as the Englishmen were happy to try run the ball out of their 22 and their run-it-from-everywhere mindset would finally cost them the game.

The English team will rue a handful of missed kicks from Butch James, as once again his erratic form from the tee let his side down.

Skrela contributed all of Toulouse's points from the tee as the referee pinged Bath time and again for transgressions at the breakdown.

The match got off to scrappy start with both sides surviving a few hairy moments. It was left to Bath's under-pressure fly-half to open the scoring and the South African World Cup-winner obliged after eleven minutes with a well taken penalty.

Skrela drew the scores level six minutes later after Stuart Hooper was penalised for going off his feet.

Turnovers were the name of the game and the topsy-turvy nature of the match was exemplified by a passage of play on Bath's try-line: the Toulouse pack were rumbling forward and Skrela dropped into the pocket for a drop attempt. High on try-line fumes the big lads rumbled on, only to see possession turned over. Not content to use their newly found possession to get themselves out of trouble, the Bath backs decided to have a run – again. When they ran out of space the ball went to boot, only for Shaun Sowerby to charge the kick down.

And so the first half continued – frenetic yet try-less.

The Toulouse fly-half put his side ahead with another penalty with half-time on the horizon and the teams headed for the break at 6-3 up.

Bath kept to their daredevil tactics and got punished when Skrela added another three to cap a period of sustained pressure in the early stages of the second period, but the visitors would soon cross the whitewash.

It was a try made in South Africa. James charged down a Byron Kelleher box-kick and scrum-half Michael Claassens dived onto the loose ball. James' missed the conversion to leave his side one point adrift.

Skrela and James then exchanged penalties within two minutes of each over to keep the status quo and set up a grandstand finish.

The Toulouse fly-half slotted his fifth penalty to extend the lead to four points with ten minutes to play to pile the pressure on Bath. The visitors declined an opportunity to pull three back, deciding rather to set up an attacking line-out, and it proved to be the correct decision.

The line-out ball was spread wide to Nick Abendanon who slipped through a below-par tackle from Toulouse full-back Maxime Medard to fly over for what looked like the winning try.

James was off the mark again with his conversion attempt, leaving the French champions in with a sniff if they could come up with something special in the dying moments.

The Toulouse back-line spread the ball out wide to wing Yves Donguy who burned up the turf on his way to the try-line only for that man James to stop him in his tracts with a try-saving tackle.

The cavalry arrived for Toulouse, but despite having the numbers at the breakdown, the ball would not come out. The guilty party? You guessed it – Butch James. Whether Toulouse would have scored if James had not given away the penalty is a matter of debate.

That Skrela's kick to win the game was a gem is beyond question, and with it the new Toulousain made amends for what had been an otherwise poor personal performance.

A losing bonus-point will be scant consolation for Bath, who must have believed they had the game won.

Man of the match: Nick Abendanon not only scored a try, he made Toulouse outside centre Maleli Kunavore's life hell as he joined the line with pace and perfect timing.

Moment of the match: A split second after Skrela's winning kick left his boot, half way to the posts the ball looked to be sailing wide – before drifting the other way. So cruel!

Villain of the match: No fisticuffs to report, but both fly-halves might be kicking themselves for some terrible mistakes. Since Skrela scored all his team's points and James set up Bath's first try, we'll let them off. This time.

The scorers:

For Toulouse:
Pens: Skrela 6

For Bath:
Tries: Claassens, Abendanon
Pens: James 2

Toulouse: 15 Maxime Medard, 14 Yves Donguy, 13 Maleli Kunavore, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 11 Cédric Heymans, 10 David Skrela, 9 Byron Kelleher, 8 Shaun Sowerby, 7 Thierry Dusautoir, 6 Jean Bouilhou (c), 5 Patricio Albacete, 4 Fabien Pelous, 3 Benoit Lecouls, 2 William Servat, 1 Jean-Baptiste Poux.
Replacements: 16 Virgile Lacombe, 17 Daan Human, 18 Romain Millo-Chluski, 19 Yannick Nyanga, 20 Mathieu Belie, 21 Florian Fritz, 22 Manu Ahotaeiloa.

Bath: 15 Nick Abendanon, 14 Joe Maddock, 13 Alex Crockett, 12 Shaun Berne, 11 Matt Banahan, 10 Butch James, 9 Michael Claassens, 8 Jonny Faamatuainu, 7 Michael Lipman (c), 6 Stuart Hooper, 5 Peter Short, 4 Justin Harrison, 3 Matt Stevens, 2 Lee Mears, 1 David Flatman.
Replacement: 16 Pieter Dixon,17 Duncan Bell, 18 David Barnes, 19 James Scaysbrook, 20 Scott Bemand, 21 Tom Cheeseman, 22 Michael Stephenson.

Referee: George Clancy (Ireland)
Touch judges: David Keane (Ireland), Jonathan Peake (Ireland)
Television match official: Marshall Kilgore (Ireland)