Toulouse (11) 23

Tries: Fickou
Pens: McAlister 6

Leicester (9) 9

Pens: Flood 3

Ragged Leicester were outgunned by four-time Heineken Cup winners Toulouse in their opening Pool 2 encounter.

The Tigers were only 11-9 behind at the break after a late first-half try by 18-year-old centre Gael Fickou.

But Leicester’s scrum began to creak after the break and Toulouse fly-half Luke McAlister was unerring with the boot, finishing with 18 points.

Leicester’s failure to win a bonus point adds extra importance to next Sunday’s home clash against Ospreys.

On Saturday, Celtic League champions Ospreys secured a bonus-point victory over Italian side Treviso to lead the pool after the opening weekend.

PREVIOUS HC MEETINGS

96-97: Leicester 37-11 Toulouse (SF)
97-98: Toulouse 17-22 Leicester
97-98: Leicester 22-23 Toulouse
04-05: Leicester19-27 Toulouse (SF)
07-08: Leicester 14-9 Toulouse
07-08: Toulouse 22-11 Leicester

Sunday’s match was the seventh meeting between Toulouse and Leicester in the Heineken Cup, with both sides victorious on three occasions previously.

And it was two-time champions Leicester who made the brighter start, despite grim conditions at Le Stadium.

Toby Flood had a clear-cut scoring opportunity after seven minutes when he collected a scuffed clearance by Toulouse full-back Clement Poitrenaud and darted for the corner.

The England fly-half was thwarted by a fine tackle by Jean Marc Doussain but perhaps should have stepped inside.

Flood kicked the visitors’ first points after an infringement at the breakdown by Louis Picamoles before Dan Cole was penalised for interfering, allowing McAlister to level.

Flood restored Tigers’ lead with another three-pointer but, when he chose to run at the Toulouse defence from inside his own half and gave away a penalty, McAlister levelled again.

Gael Fickou

Toulouse centre Fickou scored the only try of the match

After 28 minutes, Toulouse prop Gurthro Steenkamp was sent to the sin bin for a trip on Scott Hamilton, which gave Leicester, who already had the edge at the set-piece, even more leverage.

And when Toulouse were penalised again after disintegrating in the scrum, Flood made no mistake with a long-range penalty attempt.

However, when Thomas Waldrom spilled the ball two minutes before half-time, Heineken Cup debutant Fickou gathered his own kick and outpaced Anthony Allen to give the hosts the lead at the break.

McAlister extended his side’s lead after another needless infringement at the breakdown by Tom Youngs before Ben Youngs declined a penalty in front of the posts, choosing to tap and go instead.

The decision was a pivotal one. Toulouse powered Leicester backwards from the resulting scrum before former All Black McAlister made it 17-9 with another unerring penalty.

A couple of minutes later, Picamoles picked up from the base of the scrum and triggered a rare sweeping move, which led to another McAlister three-pointer.

With Leicester’s scrum creaking badly the penalties continued to flow and McAlister popped over his sixth penalty midway through the half.

Only a tremendous piece of defending by Matt Smith prevented Yoann Huget going over with six minutes remaining but a clinical Toulouse had already done more than enough.

Toulouse: Clement Poitrenaud, Vincent Clerc, Florian Fritz, Gael Fickou, Yoann Huget, Luke McAlister, Jean Marc Doussain; Gurthro Steenkamp, Gary Botha, Census Johnston, Romain Millo-Chluski, Yoann Maestri, Yannick Nyanga, Thierry Dusautoir (capt), Louis Picamoles.

Replacements: Christopher Tolofua, Jean-Baptiste Poux, Antoine Guillamon, Patricio Albacete, Jean Bouilhou, Yannick Jauzion, Luke Burgess, Timoci Matanavou.

Leicester: Scott Hamilton, Niall Morris, Manu Tuilagi, Anthony Allen, Vereniki Goneva, Toby Flood, Ben Youngs; Logovi’i Mulipola, Tom Youngs, Dan Cole, Graham Kitchener, Geoff Parling, Steve Mafi, Thomas Waldrom, Jordan Crane (capt).

Replacements: George Chuter, Marcos Ivan Ayerza, Martin Castrogiovanni, Ed Slater, Richard Thorpe, Sam Harrison, George Ford, Matt Smith.

Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)

Heineken Cup: Sale Sharks 34-33 Cardiff Blues

(PhatzRadio / BBC Sport)

Sale (12) 34

Tries: Cipriani, Jennings, Buckley
Cons: Miller 2
Pens: MacLeod 4 Miller

Cardiff Blues (24) 33

Tries: Cuthbert 3
Cons: Halfpenny 3
Pens: Halfpenny 4

Sale put their Premiership misery to one side and got their Heineken Cup campaign off to the ideal start thanks to a thrilling Danny Cipriani-inspired comeback win over Cardiff Blues.

Blues looked to be coasting as they took control with a ruthless attacking display and three Alex Cuthbert tries.

But Cipriani’s classy score with 25 minutes left gave Sharks hope.

And late tries from Mark Jennings and Tony Buckley, plus solid kicking from Rob Miller, secured an unlikely win.
Sale’s Premiership punishment

Exeter 43-6 Sale

Sale 16-23 Saracens

Harlequins 37-14 Sale

Sale 19-29 London Welsh

Bath 31-10 Sale

Sale 8-20 Leicester

Cipriani has debut to forget

Blues had seemed certain victors when they led by 15 points heading towards the final quarter of this Pool Six fixture.

Cuthbert’s superbly worked first-half treble and some hugely impressive long-range kicking from Leigh Halfpenny looked to have wrapped up an eighth successive opening-day Heineken Cup win.

But the second-half introduction of England’s forgotten man Cipriani breathed new life into a predictable Sale backline and his energy and quality guided the hosts to a pulsating victory.

Sale, who prop up the English Premiership after losing all six of their games so far, dominated possession and territory in a scrappy opening period but wasted two glorious openings.

Despite the pressure, the visitors were first to get on the scoreboard, courtesy of a kick from his own half by Halfpenny.

Sale responded with a penalty of their own from Nick McLeod.

But the Welsh side, deprived of the services of Wales captain Sam Warburton from the sixth minute because of a dislocated finger, suddenly sparked into life with a devastating spell of attacking rugby that produced two tries in three minutes.

Cuthbert scored the first following a fine charge by Jamie Roberts and a quality short pass from Ceri Sweeney.

And a delightful move involving almost half the team culminated in Cuthbert running in a simple second in the right-hand corner.

Alex Cuthbert’s hat-trick helped give Blues a big lead

The hosts regrouped and, having earlier opted to run when presented with decent opportunities to kick at goal, McLeod added two further penalties to bring them back to within eight points at 17-9.

But more careless play by the home side gifted possession to Blues and they again made the most of it.

Hooker Marc Breeze burst through deep into Sale territory and delayed his pass to Cuthbert, who completed a simple hat-trick.

The faultless Halfpenny added the two points and then converted another long-distance penalty after the interval – but Sale still refused to cave in.

The Sharks continued to match the visitors in terms of possession but lacked the creativity to break a resolute defence until Cipriani appeared on 49 minutes.

His quality soon made an impact as he started and finished a sweeping move to go over for Sale’s opening try.

Halfpenny slotted another long-range kick for the visitors but Cipriani was again involved as a slick move in the backs ended with Jennings running around behind the posts for a converted try.

That took Sharks to within six points and, with the momentum in their favour and Lewis Jones sin-binned on 73 minutes, they secured the win against an increasingly edgy Blues.

A Miller kick and close-range score from Buckley after a spell of sustained pressure put them ahead for the first time, and they held on to win by a single point.

Sale director of rugby Bryan Redpath:

“It was great for Danny perform like that and hopefully it will give us a huge confidence boost. Hopefully Danny and the team can kick on from that.

“His attacking flair has never been in question, but he had three great kicks for field position and he made his tackles when he needed to, and that was just as important.

“We’ve been on the wrong end of these results. We created two great chances in the first 25 minutes but in the next 15 minutes we conceded three soft tries, and suddenly we’re thinking deja vu.

“I said to the players at half-time we were staring down the barrel of a gun. We had to go out with the right mindset to win the game.

“It’s been a tough six weeks. We’ve taken a lot of flak, quite rightly so in many ways, but hopefully we can turn the corner. The next two games are huge for us.”

Cardiff Blues director of rugby Phil Davies:

“It’s a bit frustrating but overall it was more like the performance we’re looking for as a team

“The platform up front was pretty good and with the ball in hand in the first half we were pretty clinical.

“We just weren’t consistent enough, particularly in the last quarter of an hour.

“There are lots for us to take away – the bonus point plus the way we played. It’s a young team and I thought today they came of age a bit and performed really well away from home.

“After the dust has settled, this will give us confidence. I thought we went up a level.”