Toulouse trounce Bayonne

Luke McAlister: pulled the strings in the Toulouse back division

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Toulouse sent a warning shot to the rest of their Top 14 challengers by claiming a 35-6, bonus-point win away to Bayonne.

In a one-sided clash, Guy Noves' men proved to be a class above their struggling rivals as Luke McAlister pulled the strings from number 10.

The All Black was involved in most of Toulouse's good work and played a big role in wing Timoci Matanavou going over on seventeen minutes. He deliberately sliced a kick cross-field to his wing, who finished well for a score that made it 14-6 to the visitors after Bayonne fly-half Benjamin Boyet and the former Blues man had traded penalties.

The score stayed that way through to half-time but a yellow card for Census Johnston and David Roumieu did create greater space for possible scores.

Toulouse came out firing in the second stanza and a fine individual try from flanker Yannick Nyanga set them on their way. His try - after a clever offload from Vincent Clerc - saw the back-row forward outpace two backs for the line.

McAlister missed the conversion but one could see the momentum was firmly with the French heavyweights, who crossed twice more in the closing stages as replacement Jean Bouilhou and McAlister went over. It was fitting the All Black had the final say from the tee.

Victory takes Toulouse second, two points behind Toulon who host Castres on Saturday.

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