Rugby

Thrilling Harlequins fightback falls short as Toulouse reach Champions Cup final

English side threatened to overhaul a 31-12 deficit but French side will face Leinster in London

Toulouse's Antoine Dupont offloads during the Investec Champions Cup semi-final against Harlequins at Stade de Toulouse. Photograph: Valentine Chapuis/AFP via Getty Images

Gerard Meagher at Stadium de Toulouse
Sun May 5 2024 - 17:46
Champions Cup semi-final: Toulouse 38 Harlequins 26

Another gallant English Champions Cup defeat, another tale of the Premiership’s plucky losers but ultimately another tinged with regret. Toulouse booked their place in the final to secure a widely expected showdown with Leinster but, just as was the case with Northampton 24 hours earlier, Harlequins will wonder what might have been.

They had Toulouse on the ropes for large spells of the second half, firing freely from their slingshots without landing the telling blow between the eyes of one of European rugby’s giants.

Credit Harlequins for the manner in which they fought back from 31-12 at half-time. They vowed to swing the bat once more and tries from Cadan Murley and Tyrone Green brought them back to within five points against a side with significantly more resources.

As it was Jack Walker’s 66th-minute yellow card for a head-on-head clear out finally gave the hosts some respite but for the second day running, here were favourites breathing a huge sigh of relief at keeping the Premiership upstarts – for whom Green, Chandler Cunningham-South and André Esterhuizen in particular shone – at bay.

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“Proud of the group but at the moment very disappointed,” said the Harlequins captain Stephan Lewies. “I think against a team like Toulouse if you give them 28 points on a platter it’s going to be tough. The way we came out in the second half, we’re really proud of that, we went back to being Quins, if we could have taken away a few of those errors, then [you think] what might have been.”

There is no shame in defeat, more frustration at their first-half mistakes that were ruthlessly punished, and, as they have demonstrated throughout this season’s competition, Toulouse have a gear that no one can live with. Their 15-minute period at the end of the first half, in which Antoine Dupont scored two tries, proved pivotal. They will look forward to a final against Leinster later this month and a shot at a sixth title. Like Leinster they have things they need to tidy up on but there are times when they are untouchable.

Both these sides like to play and there were times when both showcased their full armoury of skills. The difference is that Toulouse boast a power and a ferocity at the breakdown that Harlequins cannot match.

Harlequins' Cadan Murley scores a try despite the attempt of Toulouse's Blair Kinghorn to stop him during the Investec Champions Cup semi-final. Photograph: Gary Carr/Inpho

Time and again in the first half they were shoved off the ball and while Harlequins have canny operators such as Will Evans, they do not have someone like Emmanuel Meafou, the 23-stone secondrow behemoth. They do not have a hooker with the pace and power of Peato Mauvaka and ultimately could not live with the ruthlessness displayed by Toulouse once they had turned the ball over.

Then there is Dupont who was in the mood from the word go. There was an early break down the left, passes out the back and, pinpoint kicks off both feet and two tries – each as a result of his ability to be in the right place at the right time.

Harlequins were competitive during a breathless opening half an hour. Toulouse had the opening try, a well-worked move finished in the left corner by Matthis Lebel but a scrum penalty near their own line gave Harlequins a foothold and after patiently going through the phases, Marcus Smith burst through a gap and over.

Mauvaka registered Toulouse’s next try from a driving maul but with Cunningham-South carrying hard and Louis Lynagh somewhat fortuitously adjudged to have pulled off a 50:22, Harlequins responded in kind through Evans.

From the restart, however, Harlequins could not exit and Danny Care’s hurried pass to Cunningham-South was pinched by Thibaud Flament who dotted down – a sucker-punch for the visitors. A few minutes later and another mistake – this time an overthrown lineout – and Dupont was soon over for his first after a wonderful step and well-measured grubber from the impressive Paul Costes. Dupont had his second before the interval after another break from Mauvaka leaving Harlequins hanging on at the break.

A fast start to the second half for Harlequins brought quick rewards with Murley’s acrobatic finish in the left-hand corner and the visiting supporters were daring to believe when Green ran an irrepressible line to go over next to the posts. A bit more sangfroid and Harlequins might have found the fifth try they needed to get ahead but Walker’s yellow card burst their bubble and Toulouse regathered before striking in the right-hand corner through Juan Cruz Mallía to settle matters. – Guardian

TOULOUSE: B Kinghorn; JC Mallia, P Costes, P Ahki, M Lebel; R Ntamack, A Dupont (capt); C Baille, P Mauvaka, D Aldegheri; T Flament, E Meafou; F Cros, J Willis, A Roumat.

Replacements: J Marchand for Mauvaka (49 mins); T Ramos for Lebel (54); R Arnold for Baille, R Neti for Aldegheri, J Merkler for Aldegheri (all 60); S Chocobares for Costes (69); M Castro-Ferreira for Willis (71). Not used: P Graou.

HARLEQUINS: T Green; L Lynagh, L Northmore, A Esterhuizen, C Murle; M Smith, D Care; F Baxter, J Walker, W Collier; I Herbst, S Lewies (capt); C Cunningham-South, W Evans, A Dombrandt.

Replacements: J Marler for Baxter (49 mins); S Kerrod for Collier, W Porter for Care (both 62); J Chisholm for Evans (67); S Riley for Lynagh, G Hammond for Herbst (both 71); O Beard for Northmore (75); J Evans for Walker (78).

Sin bin: Walker (67 mins).

Referee: Andrew Brace (IRFU).

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