Thursday, June 07, 2012
French Top 14 Semi Final highlights ahead of this weekend's Final
Toulouse and Toulon will meet in the Top 14 final this coming weekend after having got through their respective semi finals with wins over Castres and Clermont. While there weren't many tries on show, there was still plenty to talk about.
In the first of the two games Toulouse beat Castres 24-15 thanks in large to the boot of Luke McAlister, who kicked six penalties. Castres came close, as we saw in the video of Vincent Clercs trysaver on Max Evans earlier in the week, but Toulouse remain on course.
They will be aiming to win back to back titles after the solid win, despite Castres throwing everything at them. There were plenty of physical exchanges with Chris Masoe in particular throwing his weight around, which included a knock out blow on Toulouse captain Thierry Dusautoir.
In the second semi final, which was far less entertaining but just as tight, Toulon pipped Clermont Auvergne 15-12 with a penalty from Jonny Wilkinson three minutes from time. Morgan Parra had an opportunity to tie the game with time up, but his kick dropped short by a matter of inches.
"It was a shame for Morgan Parra at the end. The penalty kick was right in front, but a little too long. It was a great match and an important result for us," Wilkinson told L'Equipe.
"Now we are in the final and we have to do everything we can to get the result that we want. Getting to the final is good, but if we win it, it would be phenomenal.
"Toulouse have a very experienced and powerful set of players and it will be another big challenge. We will have to prepare very well during the week, and then do all we can to stay in contention till the end of the match. We know it will be a big challenge, but that is why we play rugby."
Kick off in Paris on Saturday is at 18:00 local time. View highlights of both semi finals below.
Posted at 6:00 am | 19 comments
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Vincent Clerc's incredible try saving tackle on Max Evans
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Viewing 19 comments
Grumly June 07, 2012 7:22 am
PortugueseRugbyPlaye June 07, 2012 8:54 am
stroudos June 07, 2012 10:14 am
BTW who's the Castres #5? He was also smashing opposition players all over the park and making good carries.
stroudos June 07, 2012 10:24 am
Please recruit the Canal+ producer / video editor to educate your guys on the appropriate amount of time to spend on kicks at goal in your highlights reels. ie start as the bloke begins his run-up, bang, did he score or not, cut.
Also, as beautifully demonstrated here, slow-motion replays are not for moody close-ups of a try-scorer's elated face, they're for illustrating, from as many angles as possible, the devastating impact of a monster smashing his way through a tackle or handing off a tackler with such power that he leaves the ground.
Number11 June 07, 2012 11:02 am
Number11 June 07, 2012 11:04 am
Fettsack June 07, 2012 12:39 pm
There was a bit of a debate prior to this game because Tekori did not get banned for a previous incident against Montpellier, letting him take part in the semi-finals. Many people suggested that the citing commitee was biased, with the president of the federation being from Castres.
grumbo June 07, 2012 5:33 pm
Reality June 07, 2012 5:34 pm
jnfeehan June 07, 2012 7:29 pm
Frenchie June 08, 2012 1:22 am
Else where teams in such situation decide to play a lot more rugby, they think that victory will come by attacking. Clearly in France we think defending is the key. Sad.
Personally i'm bored by Toulouse. I'll be cheering for Toulon.
Peace.
richo June 08, 2012 4:01 am
Toulousain June 11, 2012 4:57 pm
Grumly June 08, 2012 1:41 pm
Some players have the mohawk since the start of the season (Bastareaud and Armitage). They are like twins so Bastarocket change his color to blonde, then red.
Since, almost every week a player cut his hairs. Even the president did it.
We still hope to see Sir Jonny with a mohawk
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