Toulouse deny brave Gloucester

Clement Poitrenaud (L): Late try broke Gloucester hearts

Toulouse were given an almighty scare in their opening Heineken Cup fixture before digging deep to overcome Gloucester 21-17 at Stade Ernest-Wallon.

The Cherry and Whites looked set to record a famous victory when Henry Trinder combined superbly with Mike Tindall to put the visitors ahead with less than 10 minutes remaining.

But Bryan Redpath's men were forced to settle for a losing bonus point when Clement Poitrenaud picked up Yves Donguy's forward-looking pass to score late on.

All Blacks international Luke McAlister, playing in his first European fixture for the French heavyweights, kicked two penalties and produced a sublime grubber kick to set up Timoci Matanavou after Gloucester had earlier led 10-0.

Talent

Gloucester came into the match on the back of a first away victory of the season at Exeter Chiefs, however this promised to be an altogether different proposition for the Cherry and Whites.

A powerful opening scrum resulted in an early penalty for Gloucester, but youngster Freddie Burns was well off target with the long-range strike.

Toulouse responded well and, after a flowing move down the left, the play was switched to the right flank where only a last-ditch tackle from Jonny May denied wing Matanavou an opening score.

May showed his attacking talent minutes later when winning a penalty with a spearing run through the Toulouse defence and Burns made no mistake with the resulting kick.

McAlister then typified Toulouse's sluggish start with a wayward penalty attempt on 16 minutes after Peter Buxton had been pinged for offside.

With the home fans beginning to voice their displeasure McAlister tried to engineer a moment of magic with a kick over the top, however Charlie Sharples pulled off am athletic try-saving catch to keep the onrushing Donguy at bay.

Trinder, playing in place of the suspended Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu, attempted an identical play moments later and, with the Gloucester outside centre seemingly destined to pick up his own kick and score, full-back Poitrenaud dived across and knocked the ball to safety.

Failing to take heed of that warning, Toulouse were then undone by the next attack as May delayed his pass to perfection and Sharples strolled in at the corner. Burns slotted over the extras to put Gloucester 10-0 ahead.

But the response from the Top 14 leaders was clinical. First, after Gloucester had switched off at the restart, McAlister slotted over a penalty and the All Blacks international then turned provider with a delightful grubber kick which Matanavou gathered to score.

That reply, coupled with McAlister's off-target conversion, at least ensured Gloucester took a 10-8 lead into the interval.

Sin-binned

The home side picked up where they left off after half time and, after a concerted spell of pressure, Scotland lock Alasdair Strokosch was sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on and McAlister booted Toulouse in front.

Burns squandered a chance to put the 14-men back ahead when he kicked wide minutes later, but Gloucester's pain was quickly eased when Donguy inexplicably dropped the ball with the try-line in sight.

Toulouse, making the most of their one-man advantage, were camped inside the Gloucester half at this stage and the hosts thought they had made their pressure tell when Poitrenaud crossed in the corner, only for the referee to chalk off the try for a knock-on.

Strokosch's return to the fray could not come soon enough but Lionel Beauxis, on as a replacement for McAlister, increased Toulouse's lead to 14-10 on 67 minutes after Gloucester's front row were penalised at the scrum.

The match appeared to be drifting away from the Cherry and Whites at this point, however Toulouse switched off and Tindall and Trinder combined to put the visitors back in front.

But the four-time champions weren't finished yet and Poitrenaud started and finished a slick move on the right flank to break Gloucester hearts.