Toulouse ease past Connacht

Timoci Matanavou: Sealed bonus point win

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Toulouse consolidated their place at the top of Heineken Cup Pool Six with a 24-3 win over Connacht at Stade Ernest Wallon.

The four-time European champions disposed of Connacht clinically and professionally as they grabbed a crucial bonus point.

Connacht opened the scoring after 14 minutes through the boot of fly-half Niall O'Connor after IRB World Player of the Year Thierry Dusautoir had conceded the penalty with a rare moment of ill-discipline.

This only served to spur the French champions into life though and nobody could keep pace with flying winger Timoci Matanavou as he raced onto a fine kick through from Maxime Medard to touch down.

Superiority

After a decent spell of possession for Connacht, Medard then rounded off an excellent Toulouse counter attack with a score of his own. Again the try came from a deft kick, this time from Kiwi fly-half Luke McAlister.

The Irishmen had done well to hang on to the coattails of their opponents and still be in the hunt at just 10-3 down at half-time.

However, the Top 14 leaders took advantage of their huge superiority in the scrum early in the second half.

After a series of reset scrums, Louis Picamoles caught the Connacht defence unawares by taking a free-kick quickly and powering over to score.

Just as it looked as though Toulouse might pull away, the Galway outfit showed great spirit and endeavour to frustrate their illustrious hosts for the next 20 minutes.

Toulouse were made to work for their bonus point but they duly got it with 10 minutes to spare as Medard turned creator once more and Matanavou galloped down the left touchline to finish the job off with a fourth try.

The French giants are now firmly in pole position as they sit atop pool four with 18 points going into the final round of matches when they must visit Gloucester.