Late Meafou try gives Toulouse victory over La Rochelle in Top 14 / Photo: Lionel BONAVENTURE - AFP
Late Meafou try gives Toulouse victory over La Rochelle in Top 14
French champions Toulouse made it two wins from two in the new Top 14 season with a hard-fought 35-27 victory over La Rochelle on Sunday, a win that extended their unbeaten home league run in the league to 33 matches.
The two-time defending champions scored four tries to three against a side they beat in the 2021 and 2023 finals, thomas Ramos adding the other 15 points from the boot.
The win means Toulouse are the only team, alongside Lyon, to have won both of their opening games but they top the early table thanks to the offensive bonus point they earned last weekend at Vannes.
La Rochelle put the first points on the board after 20 minutes when Samoan international centre UJ Seueni broke a tackle and teed up Teddy Thomas to dot down, Antoine Hastoy adding the conversion.
Under the eyes of scrum-half and Olympic champion Antoine Dupont, who took part in the Olympians parade in Paris on Saturday,Toulouse hit back with two tries in quick succession from Tonga international Pita Akhi and France lock Thibault Flament.
Pierre-Louis Barassi notched Toulouse's third try of the evening on the halftime whistle to give them a 22-10 lead at the break.
La Rochelle coach Ronan O'Gara responded by replacing six of his eight forwards in one fell swoop, a move that paid off when they took the lead following a try from prop Aleksandre Kuntelia and a second from Thomas.
But with Australian lock Will Skelton off the field with a yellow card, La Rochelle began to wilt and it was another giant lock Emmanuel Meafou, who grew up in Australia before becoming a France international, crashed over to give his side some breathing space in a tense end to the match.
On Saturday, Ireland head coach Andy Farrell was on hand to witness his son, ex-England captain Owen Farrell, score five points as Racing 92 beat Clermont 33-20.
T.Burns--EWJ
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