Champions Cup: Toulouse avoids the Harlequins trap in the final and will try to win a sixth star against Leinster

Dupont, Roumat et les Toulousains ont fini par l'emporter. MAXPPP – Liam McBurney

Stade Toulousain beat the English Harlequins in the semi-final of the Champions Cup (38-26), Sunday May 5 at the Stadium, and will face the Irish Leinster in the final in London.

This poster seemed to have been written since the end of the group stage, when the two best results in European rugby finished with the two best records, which prevented them from seeing each other before.< /p>

Stade Toulousain (5 titles) will meet the Irish province of Leinster (4) at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium at the end of the month, with continental supremacy at stake, and this will curiously be a first in the final.  The two teams had recently gotten into the habit of playing each other in the semi-finals (2019, 2022 and 2023) and it had gone badly each time for Antoine Dupont and his teammates.< /p>

This season they have given themselves the means to spare themselves a complicated trip to Dublin, thanks to a flawless performance since the start of the competition — more than 40 points scored on average at each outing — which continued on Sunday, at least offensively.

Dupont doubled

The Harlequins had already seen all the colors (47-19) on their lawn at Stoop in mid-December in group play and Toulouse passed the second layer, with six tries scored against four for their opponent, just as playful. In front of the 32,494 spectators at the Stadium, the usual lair of the "Téfécé" footballers, the five-time European champions had already passed five at half-time, reaching with a nice lead (31- 12).

Two for the inevitable Dupont, in quick succession (33rd and 37th) having "only' dive into the in-goal after a well-launched counter-attack by young center Paul Costes, then a breakthrough from hooker Peato Mauvaka.

The French rugby star has now made five tries this season in the Champions Cup, like his teammates Matthis Lebel and Mauvaka, authors of the first two Toulouse banderillas (4th and 18th) in an explosive start to the match.

A missed start to the second half

The second international line Thibaud Flament (27th), opportunist, gave his team some breathing room at a time when the English, who lost Bordeaux-Bègles in the previous round, were still up to par thanks to two attempts by the poison Marcus Smith (14th) and third row Will Evans (24th), on a carried ball.

The Toulousains conceded two more after returning from the locker room (46th and 53rd) and doubt temporarily set in despite the entries of their luxury replacements Thomas Ramos, Julien Marchand and Richie Arnold.

Mallia liberates Toulouse

The efforts made in counter-rucks and ambitious restarts undoubtedly weighed physically on Ugo Mola's men, long deprived of ammunition until the English hooker's yellow card Jack Walker, guilty of a dangerous clearing on Dupont which could have earned him a red.

Argentinian winger Juan Cruz Mallia scored straight away (68th) in a corner, between two defenders, a liberating try at the conclusion of a well-executed launch. One more chapter in his personal story with the Champions Cup.

Just a few months after his arrival at the club, he was the hero of the last final won by Stade Toulousain against La Rochelle in 2021. It was already in London.