Toulouse Win Heineken Cup

Toulouse beat Perpignan 22-17 to win the 2003 Heineken Cup at Lansdowne Road, their second time winning this prestigious European tournament.

Toulouse beat Perpignan 22-17 to win the 2003 Heineken Cup at Lansdowne Road, their second time winning this prestigious European tournament.

A solid first half performance from Toulouse, in which they racked up 19 of their 22 points, was enough to overcome a gutsy fight back from their Catalan opponents.

Toulouse opened the scoring with two penalties from Yann Delaigue, who managed to overcome the blustery conditions. Not so for Perpignan’s Manny Edmonds who missed his penalty opportunity.

Toulouse increased their lead when a great break by centre Yannick Jauzion was finished off by Vincent Clerc for their only try, which Delaigue converted to give his side a 16-0 half time lead.

After the break, Perpignan came out a different side and battled long and hard to edge their way back into the game. Dominating proceedings from the kick-off, Edmonds kicked two penalties to set up a tense last quarter.

He added another two after the hour mark and it took resolute defence from Toulouse to keep the opponents out.

However, deep in injury time, Edmonds chipped over the back of the Toulouse backline allowing Philipe Bomati to touch down for a late consolation try. When Edmonds’ conversion came off the upright, the final whistle blew, and Toulouse were champions.

Trevor Brennan had a fine game for Toulouse, in terms of both ball carries and line breaking. However, it was his crunching defensive tackling that should, if there is any justice, grab the attention of the Irish management.