Byron Kelleher believes Toulouse's superior fitness took them past Cardiff in the Heineken Cup.
All Black full of praise for Toulouse after their 41-17 victory
Byron Kelleher believes Toulouse's superior fitness took them past Cardiff in the Heineken Cup.
The New Zealand international and France's Jean-Baptiste Elissalde pulled the strings as the French side overcame the Blues 41-17 at Toulouse Stadium on Sunday.
The three-time Heineken Cup champions set up a semi-final clash with London Irish at Twickenham on April 26 in the process and Kelleher feels his side's conditioning proved decisive.
"We've got good fitness levels and good artillery that comes off the bench," said Kelleher. "They were very tired at the end.
"We put pressure on them and made them play in their half. It was a very intense game and it was played with maximum intensity."
Strength
Toulouse coach Guy Noves, who spent Friday night in hospital with concussion after being knocked off his bike, feels the game was won up front.
"I'm very proud of the players and it's great to come off the pitch at the end of a game, feeling that we played a game we can be proud of.
"Although we are very pleased with the result, this is European rugby and it's all or nothing. We have a semi-final to prepare for and if we lose that, then we finish the season with nothing.
"The players really stepped up from our French Championship game against Biarritz last week and we played some very good rugby.
"Although the backs scored the tries, coaches Yannick Bru and Philippe Rouge-Thomas have done enormous amounts of work with the pack and if we hadn't benefited from the work they have done on the scrum, we would have spent most of the time on the back foot."
Maxime Medard, Malell Kunavore, Vincent Clerc and Jean Bouihlou scored the tries for the home side, with Jason Spice and Ben Blair getting the consolation scores for Cardiff.
Class
Toulouse dominated the second-half after a relatively even opening period and Blues flanker Martyn Williams admits his side struggled after the interval.
"They really turned the screw on us," Williams said. "We couldn't get the territory, and we couldn't get out of our own half. They're a very difficult team to defend against."
And Cardiff coach Dai Young is now backing the French side to go all the way in the competition.
"I don't think the result reflected the game but it did show that we were second best," Young commented
"We were in the game for more than an hour but to be honest, the physical intensity and tempo they brought to the game really told in the final 20 minutes.
"We started to tire when they stepped up and we can have few complaints about the result. I think we could have lost to the eventual champions.
"For anyone doubting Toulouse, they proved they are still a force in Europe with that performance. They had control, they were clinical and kept the scoreboard ticking over. They have a great balance between their forwards and backs."
Watch Toulouse take on the Exiles in the last four live on
Sky Sports 2 from 2.30pm on April 26.
