 | HEINEKEN CUP, POOL 2 Toulouse (15) 29:
Tries: Heymans, Poitrenaud, Jauzion, Elissalde.
Cons: Elissalde, Michalak 2.
Pen: Michalak. Ospreys (3) 6:
Pens: Henson 2. Att: 11,600 |
Toulouse showed they would not give up their Heineken Cup title easily with a 29-6 win over the Ospreys. The French made light of a soaked pitch to run in tries from Cedric Heymans, Clement Poitrenaud, Yannick Jauzion and Jean-Baptiste Elissalde.
A bonus point for scoring four tries was just reward for Toulouse's efforts.
The Welsh visitors managed just two penalties from Gavin Henson and spoiled what possession they had with a string of errors and poor decisions.
Toulouse made light of the swampy pitch by running in a try within two minutes.
Shaun Connor made the cardinal mistake of missing touch from his 22, allowing full-back Poitrenaud to launch a counter-attack through the backs.
With plenty of space to work in, wing Heymans rounded Ospreys full-back Henson untouched to score.
|  Quality teams make you pay for your mistakes and that's exactly what Toulouse did to us |
France fly-half Frederic Michalak missed the conversion, but soon landed a penalty to give Toulouse a handy 8-0 lead with just five minutes gone.
In truth, the defending champions weren't having to exert themselves against the blundering Ospreys, who continued to fumble possession and invariably pick the wrong option.
Hooker Barry Williams, once a Lions tourist, was having a shocking afternoon - even allowing for the poor conditions - missing his line-out jumpers time and again to waste what little good work the Ospreys produced.
The visitors had to wait nearly 30 minutes for a scoring opportunity, a penalty kick which Henson struck just the wrong side of the post.
The pendulum swung further in Toulouse's favour when the visitors had lock Andy Newman sin-binned six minutes before the break for coming into the side of a maul.
 The Ospreys never got to grips in the line-out battle |
That saw the rare sight of centre Scott Gibbs joining the Ospreys back-row for offensive scrums, with Jon Thomas moving forward into lock.
The Ospreys needed reinforcements in the back-row, as Christian Labit was having a superb game for Toulouse at number eight.
The pressure told again two minutes before the break, when Michalak's break allowed the French to rampage through some weak tackling - Stefan Terblanche's huge hit on Trevor Brennan a notable exception - for Poitrenaud to score.
Elissalde took the successful conversion, although Henson replied with a penalty deep in injury time to give the Ospreys some hope and make it 15-3 at half-time.
Ospreys lost their skipper within five minutes of the restart as Gibbs went off injured, James Storey coming on at outside centre while Elvis Seveali'l moved into the No 12 slot.
| It will be a different story in Wales |
Toulouse were denied a third try when Italian referee Giulio De Santis called them back for crossing.
Henson added a second penalty - having missed an earlier effort - to make it 15-6 with 20 minutes remaining, but Toulouse simply upped the tempo.
Toulouse's forwards provided the impetus and France centre Yannick Jauzion, coming back on the angle, slipped through a tackle to score under the posts for Michalak to convert.
With the result - which had rarely been in doubt - certainly secure, Toulouse went in search of the bonus point that a fourth try would bring.
The home side at last had a reason to get out of second gear and duly claimed the full five points on offer when Elissalde squirted over, Michalak's conversion capping a fine afternoon.
For the Ospreys it is the end of their quarter-final hopes and Lyn Jones must raise his side for the return against Toulouse at the Gnoll next week.
Toulouse: C Poitrenaud; E Ntamack (capt), Y Jauzion, B Baby, C Heymans; F Michalak, J Elissalde; P Collazo, Y Bru, J Poux, D Gerard, T Brennan, J Bouilhou, F Maka, C Labit.
Replacements: B Lecouls, W Servat, R Millochlusky, J-F Montauriol, Y Delaigue, C Desbrosse, N Jeanjean.
Ospreys: G Henson; S Terblanche, E Seveali'l, S Gibbs (capt), S Williams; S Connor, A Williams; D Jones, B Williams, A Jones, G Llewellyn, A Newman, J Thomas, R Pugh, N Bonner-Evans.
Replacements: Huw Bennett, Andrew Millward, James Bater, Gavin Thomas, Paul Jones, James Storey, Gareth Morris.
Referee: Giulio De Santis (Italy).
MMIX
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