Toulouse v Leinster 21.10.18 | 15:15 Local KO | BT Sport 3 | Preview & Match Thread

Leinster's opening round victory against Wasps has brought with it unprecedented levels of hype along with questions around salary caps, academy structures and the IRFU's management of player resources in Ireland's provincial setup.

At this point enough column inches, forum threads and podcast minutes have been dedicated to Leinster and a more interesting use of this preamble might be to look at our opponents on Sunday - Stade Toulousain.


History & Trivia

Toulouse, located in the south of France is believed to have been settled over 2000 years ago when Celts arrived in the Garonne Valley from central Europe. The earliest Roman records are from a settlement in 2AD in a northern part of the region.

Toulouse is the largest centre for Aerospace in Europe and houses Airbuses European Headquarters.

Founded in 1907, Stade Toulousain or Toulouse Rugby are easily the most decorated club in French rugby history. They are joint record Heineken cup winners with four wins in 1996, 2003, 2005 and 2010. They were also runners-up in 2004 and 2008. They have won the French League a record 19 times, their most recent win being in 2012.

In Europe their recent record is poor. They didn't qualify last season for the Champions cup and failed to exit the pool stages in the Challenge cup picking up just 2 wins. In 2015 / 16 season they lost all but 1 pool game in the Champions cup.

The 13/14 season was the last time they ventured beyond the pools only to be knocked out by Munster in the quarter finals and their last semi final was a narrow defeat to Leinster in 10/11 season.

Toulouse currently lie 6th in the Top 14 with 4 wins, 1 draw and 2 losses.

Despite traditionally being a key supplier to the French national team, Toulouse only have three players in Brunel's squad for November.

Head to Head in Europe
We've never shared a pool in Europe with Toulouse In 07/08 and 97/98 we shared a pool with Toulouse. In 97/98 we lost home and away by an aggregate of 72 - 44. In 07/08 Leinster beat Toulouse in the home fixture 20 - 13 but received an absolute thumping away - losing 33 - 6.

We have plenty of history with them in the tournament from a knock out perspective also with Leinster winning 2 of the 3 previous encounters (all knock outs).

05/06 Toulouse 35 - 41 Leinster (QF)
09/10 Toulouse 26 - 16 Leinster (SF)
01/11 Toulouse 23 - 32 Leinster (SF)

Attacking Threat
I've tried to pull highlight examples that are representative of Toulouse's style of play having watched back a few of their top14 fixtures from this season. It's easy to identify passages of play to confirm a perception but I've done my best to provide examples that are trademark Toulouse.

They play an attractive brand of rugby with an emphasis on keeping the ball alive. Their forward play is nothing particularly complicated or flashy but they can move the ball between forwards and backs seamlessly:



Their forward play doesn't amount to a huge amount more than one out runners and pick and goes but given the size of their pack it's enough of a platform for the backs to do damage. Here they attack from inside their half and despite La Rochelle never losing their defensive shape, Toulouse are in for a try within 10 phases.



They love to counter attack and have plenty of variety to their exits:



When they do kick they always have runners after the ball and from 9 - 15 they can counter ruck and turnover when they isolate an opposition carrier. Having turned over the ball in the below image they go in to score a few moments later. Larmour and Tomane are going to be busy.



Worth mentioning the Kolbe factor - will be a handful for Tomane and Lowe and is a good foil for the older more experienced Médard.



Stuart Lancaster talks about comfort in chaos which describes Toulouse as well as it describes Leinster. Toulouse are far less prescribed in attack than Leinster which makes them a highly entertaining team - but it also limits them against teams that play with aggressive line speed and a strong breakdown game so Leinster will look to close them down early and often. Van derFlier will be key for Leinster, his ability to continually cover ground over 80 minutes has kept a few notches off Leinsters negative score board this season and he could have a significant impact tomorrow with another big performance.

They're down a number of options in the front row, but in their win over Racing earlier this season they scored off the scrum early doors and Leinsters scrum hasn't set the world on fire this season.



The Teams

Toulouse: 15 Thomas Ramos, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Sofiane Guitoune, 12 Romain Ntamack, 11 Maxime Médard, 10 Zack Holmes, 9 Sébastien Bézy, 8 Selevasio Tolofua, 7 Alban Placines, 6 Rynhardt Elstadt, 5 Joe Tekori, 4 Florian Verhaeghe, 3 Charlie Faumuina, 2 Julien Marchand (c), 1 Clément Castets
Replacements: 16 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 17 David Faimafiliotama’ita’i Ainuu, 18 Maks Van Dyk, 19 Pierre Gayraud, 20 Louis Madaule, 21 Yoann Huget, 22 Antoine Dupont, 23 Arthur Bonneval

Leinster: 15 Jordan Larmour, 14 Joe Tomane, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Robbie Henshaw, 11 James Lowe, 10 Johnny Sexton, (c) 9 Luke McGrath, 8 Jack Conan, 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Rhys Ruddock, 5 James Ryan, 4 Devin Toner, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Seán Cronin, 1 Cian Healy
Replacements: 16 James Tracy, 17 Jack McGrath, 18 Andrew Porter, 19 Scott Fardy, 20 Seán O’Brien, 21 Nick McCarthy, 22 Ross Byrne, 23 Rory O’Loughlin

What the media are saying

L'Equipe
"Co-holders of the record of titles in European Cup, Toulouse and Leinster will face Sunday at Ernest-Wallon. With Irish considered favourites for the title, a status formerly endorsed by the Toulouse."

Le Parisien
"Toulouse will need more than a last minute save by Médard to defeat the champions this weekend"

What the Coach says:

Ugo Mola: Against Leinster you have to come up with something different, that is what I have challenged from my players

What the bookies say
Leinster Currently sit at -8

Final word
Leinster are difficult opposition for any team, but they could be a real handful for Toulouse. Leinster excels at turning the breakdown into a tar pit and this could badly disrupt Toulouse who are completely reliant on quick ball.

Toulouse will test Leinster's lauded defence more than any team this season and will be kicking to Larmour and Tomane early as a means to gain a foothold inside the Leinster half.

In seasons gone by we've been vulnerable to teams that can quickly and accurately get around the sides. We've adapted in part by having our midfield push aggressively to keep the play narrow but given how Toulouse avoid going to ground we'll have to think on our feet and make sure our tackling is accurate.

A high missed tackle rate will hand the game to Toulouse.

The point remains however that we've an awful lot more to neutralise their play style than they do ours. If we play tight they lack the ground game to upset our momentum and their discipline will give Sexton plenty of opportunities to kick us ahead on the scoreboard.

Their mid field has leaked a huge number of line breaks this season and much like our first score after the break last week I think Toulouse will struggle with Leinster's ability to have multiple decoy's all in a position to receive the ball of first or second receiver.

It's going to be a big test, Toulouse will be well drilled to face Leinster and it will be a game they've lined up from a few weeks out.

If Leinster are 5% more clinical in the first half than in the first half last week we'll be ahead at the break. Unless Toulouse have built a lead going into the final 30 they could struggle with the firepower Leinster have to bring off the bench, especially in the front row where Toulouse are down to bare bones.

I think Leinster will win by between 15 - 20 points. We can fling it around just as well as Toulouse, but we've also got two sleeves full to the cuffs with tricks and invention and our pack are better placed to deliver a platform which we can fully utilise. I don't think the Toulouse forwards are going to be able to deliver the time and space Toulouse will need get wide of Leinster and I think the contest will be over before the final quarter.