Toulouse win extra-time epic

Toulouse moved into last four of the Heineken Cup on Sunday after beating Biarritz 27-20 in extra time in San Sebastian.

Toulouse moved into last four of the Heineken Cup on Sunday after beating Biarritz 27-20 in extra time in an extraordinary quarter-final in San Sebastian.

Biarritz came back from 17-0 down at half time to level the scores after 80 minutes but a Yannick Nyanga charge-down try in the 98th minute handed Toulouse victory.

The defending champions will now face Leinster in the semi-finals in Dublin.

A superb first-half from Toulouse saw them take a 17-point lead thanks to tries from Cédric Heymans and Maxime Medard.

It was a game of two distinctly different halves as a rain storm changed the complexion of the contest and aided the Biarritz pack to drag their team back into contention in the second half.

Four penalties from Dimitri Yachvili put BO within striking distance before wing Ilikena Bolakoro scored in the 78th minute to level matters.

Yachvili missed the conversion however, taking the game into extra time.

Biarritz looked dead and buried after 40 minutes against a Toulouse side that finished off their early opportunities with the clinical precision that has given them four European titles.

Toulouse opened the scoring on the quarter-hour mark with a fantastic try. Vincent Clerc's step to put him through the Biarritz back line was good, but Heymans' step to leave last defender Iain Balshaw sat on his rump was even better as the French international full-back flew home to score a classic Toulousain try.

David Skrela added the conversion but the Toulouse management would have been concerned when the fly-half was forced off with blood streaming from his forehead after clash of heads with Erik Lund.

Those worries were soon alleviated however as young Nicolas Bezy kept his cool to send a pin-point accurate kick cross-field for Medard, who was all alone out wide and simply had to hang on to the catch for Toulouse's second try.

With Skrela still seeing stars Bezy added the conversion but the experienced fly-half was able to clear his mind and add a penalty to give Toulouse a healthy lead.

It started to rain heavily in the closing stages of the first half, meaning Biarritz would have to rely on their pack to get them back into the game.

The Basques started the second period with new-found intensity and won three penalties in the five minutes after the restart. Dimitri Yachvili converted two of them to cut the gap to eleven points.

The BO pack began to turn the screw, especially at scrum time after Toulouse loosehead Daan Human was forced off with an ankle injury.

Yachvili landed his third penalty to bring the scores to 17-9 going into the final quarter of regular time.

The BO scrum-half narrowed the gap to five points with ten minutes left on the clock as the Toulouse scrum buckled under the pressure.

Biarritz went for the jugular in the dying minutes, pushing for a penalty try in the corner as they called the opposition back to crouch and engage four times after a series of penalties. But the champions' set piece somehow found the strength to reverse the trend and win an unlikely penalty of their own to clear their lines.

Biarritz were not finished though and leveled the scores with just two minutes left of regular time when Yachvili made Bezy pay for his slow service by charging down Skrela, allowing Bolakoro to touch down.

Yachvili missed the conversion however, meaning 20 minutes of extra would be played.

Skrela and Yachvili exchanged penalties before the Basque scrum-half went from hero to villain as he was charged down by Nyanga at the death, handing Toulouse a memorable victory.

Man of the match: Where do we start? William Servat worked tireless in the tight loose and was the solid as a rock when Toulouse needed to resurrect their scrum. Louis Picamoles carried well but we'll go for Cédric Heymans who scored a sensational try was made a few crucial tackles on defence.

The scorers:

For Biarritz:
Try: Bolakoro
Pens: Yachvili 5

For Toulouse:
Tries: Heymans, Medard, Nyanga
Cons: Skrela 2, Bezy
Pens: Skrela 2

Yellow card: Fritz (Toulouse – 71st min – offside)

Biarritz Olympique: 15 Iain Balshaw, 14 Takudzwa Ngwenya, 13 Marcelo Bosch, 12 Damien Traille, 11 Ilikena Bolakoro, 10 Julien Peyrelongue, 9 Dimitri Yachvili, 8 Raphael Lakafia, 7 Imanol Harinordoquy, 6 Magnus Lund, 5 Erik Lund, 4 Jérôme Thion, 3 Sylvain Marconnet, 2 Romain Terrain, 1 Eduard Coetzee.
Replacements: 16 Eusebio Guinazu, 17 James Afoa, 18 Campbell Johnstone, 19 Pelu Taele, 20 Wenceslas Lauret, 21 Yann Lesgourgues, 22 Charles Gimenez, 23 Arnaud Mignardi,

Stade Toulousain: 15 Cédric Heymans, 14 Vincent Clerc, 13 Florian Fritz, 12 Clément Poitrenaud, 11 Maxime Medard, 10 David Skrela, 9 Nicolas Bezy, 8 Louis Picamoles , 7 Sylvain Nicolas, 6 Jean Bouilhou, 5 Patricio Albacete, 4 Romain Millo-Chluski, 3 Census Johnston, 2 William Servat, 1 Daan Human,
Replacements: 16 Virgile Lacombe, 17 Jean-Baptiste Poux, 18 Yohan Montes, 19 Yoann Maestri, 20 Jean-Marc Doussain, 21 Yannick Jauzion, 22 Yannick Nyanga, 23 Grégory Lamboley,