Key Moments: Gloucester 20-25 Toulouse
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Toulouse were made to work hard for their victory over Gloucester at Kingsholm in the opening round of the Champions Cup on Friday evening.
The French champions were forced to win it off the tee with scrum-half Sebastien Bezy scoring the only try for the visitors in a performance far from the Toulouse side we saw last season.
We take a look back at some of the key moments from the encounter.
20-9 down at half time...@StadeToulousain scored 20 unanswered points to secure their first win of the Champions Cup season beating @gloucesterrugby #GLOvTOU pic.twitter.com/Sw6GtJuwwP
— Ultimate Rugby (@ultimaterugby) November 15, 2019
Holmes' drop goal
Anyone who backed the first points of the Champions Cup coming from a drop goal would have got some stellar odds particularly considering the fact that Zack Holmes and Danny Cipriani are attacking flyhalves.
However, Holmes stunned the onlookers with an early drop goal, setting the tone of the game as Toulouse struggled to break through the Gloucester defensive wall.
Joe Simpsons 10 minutes of madness
Joe Simpson scored two sensational tries, which should have put Gloucester in the driving seat for the rest of the game.
Gloucester's early ill-discipline...
Johann Ackermann will rue his side's inability to put the game to bed as his side continuously gave Toulouse opportunities to get back in the game through their ill-discipline.
Toulouse trailed by 11 points at the break but were able to cut that down to just 8 soon after the oranges with Romain Ntamack slotting a penalty in the 43rd minute as Gloucester were caught offside.
8 minutes later the lead was just 5 points after another penalty before Sebastien Bezy went over for the French side's first try before Thomas put them back in front for the first time in 50 minutes.
Elstadt's lineout prowess
Toulouse's defensive lineout was sensational as they managed to disrupt Gloucester's lineout throughout the game stealing 7 lineouts.
It was the Springbok blindside flanker that did most of the damage, particularly in the latter stages as he caused a disruption soon after Gloucester had just won a lineout against the throw and Twelvetrees put in a sublime kick.
Gloucester had the throw to the lineout but scrappy possession meant they could not get on the front foot and Toulouse managed to turn the ball over and run down the clock.
