Toulouse end Clermont's reign

Toulouse booked their ticket for the Top 14 Final with a 29-6 win over outgoing champions Clermont in Friday's semi-final in Marseille.

Toulouse booked their ticket for the Top 14 Final with a 29-6 win over outgoing champions Clermont in Friday's semi-final in Marseille.

Toulouse led from start to finish, scoring the only two tries of the match courtesy of Fijian wing Rupeni Caucaunibuca.

'Caucau' came into the starting line-up as a late injury replacement for Vincent Clerc but put on arguably his best performance in many years.

It must be said that the battle at the Stade Vélodrome did not live up to it's billing as a clash of France's best attacking sides but few will deny that Toulouse were worthy winners.

The seventeen-time champions' magnificent defence and dominant display at scrum time laid the platform for a convincing win.

Toulouse will now face either Racing-Métro or Montpellier in the final at the Stade de France in Paris on June 4.

Beyond holding the upper hand in the setpieces, the Toulousain centres Yannick Jauzion and Clément Poitrenaud put on a master class in angle running, creating their side's first try and a handful of other opportunities.

Forced to play catch-up rugby from the start, Clermont were ultimately the victims of their own mistakes as they failed to cope with the pressure applied by the men in black.

Toulouse showed their intent to counter attack from deep early on when full-back Cédric Heymans started a move from behind his own goal posts with the help of Caucau. 100 metres later, Toulouse were awarded a penalty and David Skrela duly opened the scoring.

Les Rouges et Noires moved further ahead when Caucau scored the opening try after Jauzion escaped from midfield near the half-way line before linking with Poitrenaud, who put the flying Fijian clear for a scintillating try.

Clermont full-back Anthony Floch pulled three points back for the defending champs with a monster penalty but Skrela replied after series impressive drives from his pack to leave the score at 13-3 at the end of the first quarter.

France scrum-half Morgan Parra opened his account for Clermont with a penalty from the out wide just before half time to narrow the gap to seven points.

After the break however Skrela was able to stretch his side's advantage with two more penalties as the Toulouse scrum continued to dominate.

Trailing 19-6, Clermont were forced to throw caution to the wind not never managed find any continuity.

Replacement pivot Nicolas Bezy added another penalty for Toulouse before Caucau capped the win for Toulouse with an 80-metre try in the final minute after hacking ahead a lose ball from another Clermont fumble and using his pace to score under the posts.

Man of the match: Obviously Caucaunibuca deserves a mention while the Toulouse front row of Census Johnston, William Servat and Daan Human took no prisoners. But we'll go for Clément Poitrenaud who put on another impressive display in his new role in midfield. One has to ask if Marc Lièvremont was correct in leaving him out of France's World Cup squad.

The scorers:

For Toulouse:
Tries: Caucaunibuca 2
Con: Skrela, Bezy
Pens: Skrela 4, Bezy

For Clermont:
Pens: Floch, Parra

Stade Toulousain:15 Cédric Heymans, 14 Rupeni Caucaunibuca, 13 Yannick Jauzion, 12 Clément Poitrenaud, 11 Maxime Medard, 10 David Skrela, 9 Jean-Marc Doussain, 8 Louis Picamoles , 7 Thierry Dusautoir, 6 Jean Bouilhou, 5 Patricio Albacete, 4 Romain Millo-Chlusky, 3 Census Johnston, 2 William Servat, 1 Daan Human.
Replacements: 16 Virgile Lacombe, 17 Jean-Baptiste Poux, 18 Yoann Maestri, 19 Yannick Nyanga, 20 Nicolas Bezy, 21 Florian Fritz, 22 Shaun Sowerby, 23 Johnson Falefa

ASM Clermont Auvergne: 15 Anthony Floch 14 Wesley Fofana, 13 Marius Joubert, 12 Gonzalo Canale, 11 Julien Malzieu, 10 Brock James, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Elvis Vermeulen, 7 Alexandre Lapandry, 6 Julien Bonnaire, 5 Thibaut Privat, 4 Jamie Cudmore, 3 Martin Scelzo, 2 Mario Ledesma, 1 Lionel Faure.
Replacements: 16 Ti'i Paulo, 17 Vincent Debaty, 18 Julien Pierre, 19 Sione Lauaki, 20 Kevin Senio, 21 Kini Murimurivalu, 22 Alexandre Audebert, 23 Davit Zirakashvili

Previous results: Clermont won 32-25 at home; Toulouse won 15-6 at home.
Prediction: A tough one to call, but the very brave would bet against Toulouse in a knock-out game. Toulouse by five points
Kick-off: 21:00 (19.00 GMT)
Referee: Jérôme Garces