Harlequins crash down to earth with reality-check defeat by Toulouse

Harlequins 19 Toulouse 47

From the highs of Sale and Racing 92, to the lows of Toulouse. Harlequins had enjoyed quite the fortnight, demolishing the Premiership runners-up and thrilling the French league leaders, but the arrival of France’s great aristocrats, Toulouse, to south-west London ended up a bridge too far.

The hosts were barely in it; outclassed and outmuscled by a Toulouse side desperate to build momentum after a mediocre start to their season, a period in which they were missing a whole host of World Cup gems. Not this time, however, as the French giants racked up their second bonus-point win, their second demolition, in eight days in the Champions Cup.

Toulouse’s stars were magnificent. Their counter-attacking instincts are sensational and up front Peato Mauvaka is fast approaching World XV status at hooker, while Emmanuel Meafou is terrifyingly tough at lock. The back row bristled and rampaged and Antoine Dupont, on what was likely to be his last European appearance for a while owing to his Olympics tilt, did his bit when he needed to. Thomas Ramos could not have had a more stylish match – with the ball, at least – and Pita Ahki at inside centre, too, offered the muscular presence which allowed ambition and intelligence to thrive.

“Fifty points against Harlequins is a lot,” said Toulouse head coach Ugo Mola. “What was most important for us, though, was not conceding 50 points against Harlequins, who always play to the end.”

Losing to Toulouse is no disgrace but the manner of this obliteration will come as a reality check to England’s great entertainers. Second-best everywhere, after two immaculate displays, Harlequins have to ensure they bounce back at Bath next weekend. Such defeats, if allowed to fester, can be terminal. After a phenomenal fortnight, too, Marcus Smith was not quite at his magical best.

“We knew how big the challenge was,” said Alex Dombrandt, Harlequins captain. “Sometimes you have to tip your hat - they were excellent today. Fair play to them - outstanding.”

The second-half score that put the result beyond doubt, Toulouse’s fifth try, was as majestic as any you will see. Blair Kinghorn at full-back looked to be in trouble, but Ramos bailed him out. The fly-half combined elegantly with Dupont, sending the scrum-half clear. Alexandre Roumat - the Toulouse No 8 and son of the great France forward, Olivier - was in support, before Rodrigue Neti offered a spectacular scoring offload to Pierre-Louis Barassi for the second of the centre’s two tries. From then, Toulouse knew they had Harlequins on the ropes.

Until Dino Lamb was stretchered off for a serious looking neck injury, the first half was full of sparkle and fizz. Three tries in the opening 12 minutes - all three converted - ensured that it more than matched its billing.

Dupont looked rattled early on – being timed out at a ruck and kicking the ball straight out – but that did not prevent his side from taking a swift lead. Ahki darted through the heart of Harlequins’ midfield, with Barassi himself receiving the scoring pass.

André Esterhuizen trampled Ramos and streaked clear to level the scores, before Toulouse scored a pearl. Aki left Nick David for dead, Ramos ghosted through the midfield and Mauvaka fed Dimitri Delibes in the corner.

Once Lamb had departed – Harlequins confirmed he was fine after the match – and Aki had correctly received a yellow card for his role in the collision, making head contact – with mitigation – to the Quins lock, the game understandably lost a touch of bounce. A regal Toulouse try restored it, however, with Kinghorn deftly offloading inside to Delibes, and the wing drawing Tyrone Green, giving the scoring pass to Mauvaka.

Dombrandt’s dainty pop to Irne Herbst on the stroke of half time kept Harlequins in the hunt - the first of two tries for the lock - although Marcus Smith will be upset that he could not do better with the conversion, meaning the hosts trailed by nine at the break.

Barely two minutes of the second half had been played, however, before that chasm was 16. Mauvaka peeled round the back of the line-out and his inside pass to Matthis Lebel could not have been better engineered, with the Toulouse speedster darting to the corner to score.

When Herbst muscled over for his second, Harlequins kept in the hunt, but Barassi’s sumptuous second score gave them too much of a mountain to climb. Neti’s late bludgeon and Ramos’ score in the corner completed the rout. Quins’ fantastic fortnight is well and truly over.

Match details

Scoring sequence: 0-5 Barassi try, 0-7 Ramos con, 5-7 Esterhuizen try, 7-7 Smith con, 7-12 Delibes try, 7-14 Ramos con, 7-19 Mauvaka try, 7-21 Mauvaka con, 12-21 Herbst try, 12-26 Lebel try, 12-28 Ramos con, 17-28 Herbst try, 19-28 Smith con, 19-33 Barassi try, 19-35 Ramos con, 19-40 Neti try, 19-42 Ramos con, 19-47 Ramos try.

Harlequins: T Green (Evans 70); N David, W Joseph, A Esterhuizen, C Murley (Beard 40); M Smith, W Porter; J Marler (Baxter 40), J Walker, W Collier (Lewis 49), J Launchbury, D Lamb (Herbst 14), J Chisholm, W Evans, A Dombrandt (c).

Stade Toulousain: B Kinghorn; D Delibes, P-L Barassi, P Ahki (Chocobares 68), M Lebel (Cramont 69); T Ramos, A Dupont (c); C Baille (Neti 69), P Mauvaka, N Laulala (Cramong 69), R Arnold (Faasalele 68), E Meafou, F Cros, A Jelonch (Placines 68), A Roumat.

Yellow card: Ahki 14