TOPS
The Stade captain once again shined in the Toulouse midfield. Precise with both the pass and the kick, he created numerous mismatches for his team. He is the author of Toulouse’s first attempt to pick up the score (7-7, 15th). He then played fair throughout this meeting. Whether it was his inspirations at the foot (even if they did not all succeed) or at the pass to restore rhythm, the French international was everywhere. Even in defense when during a long offensive phase of the Racingmen, he worked 3 times to prevent the locals from approaching his in-goal.
The fly half also produced an almost perfect performance. Surgical with his foot (4/4) he allowed the Racingmen to stay in the game for a long time. It was again he who gave hope to an entire stadium by (finally) managing to conclude the offensive domination of his team in this second period (20-22, 74th). After a scrum, Tristan Tedder went to flatten the second try of this match for Racing 92 in order to pick up the score at the end of the match. But just after Toulouse’s try, he missed his return which did not exceed the 10 meters required by the regulations and the ball was recovered by the Rouge et Noir who would not let it go again. Only one mistake, but it cost a lot of money.
FLOPS
The South African world champion was discreet, if not invisible, in the first act. He only tried to hit the Toulouse defense once where he certainly gained precious meters, but apart from this action, Siya Kolisi did not contribute anything offensively in this first period. In the second act, he was more present in the heart of Racing’s game. Trying to carry the ball several times, the Springbok did not succeed in influencing this meeting. For the Racingmen to maintain their first place, he will have to be much more present and sharp in the offensive phases in the coming weeks.
The Racing players dominated this second part of the match. Faced with Toulouse residents who suffered the impacts, the Ile-de-France residents often found themselves a few meters from the Rouge et Noir goal. But in front of their line, the French champions never cracked and the Racingmen never found the fault. They made too many small transmission errors, missed passing timings, or made too many forwards 5 meters from the goal which hurt them a lot. They came back too late in this match to hope to snatch a victory against a Toulouse team who perfectly knew how to stop the sky and white waves.
