As the great entertainers, it is rare that Toulouse are upstaged by the pre-match pageantry but it is not every day a paratrooper attempting to land on the pitch gets snagged on the stadium roof and suspended in midair for half an hour. As it was, the paratrooper in question was rescued by the fire brigade – and you suspect pre-match protocols may be changed in the future – before Toulouse dug in to beat a dogged Sale side, who return home with heads held high.
The Sharks’ defeat, though, capped a miserable weekend for the Premiership clubs and for the first time since 2019 there will be just one representative – Northampton – in the last eight. As far as England’s British & Irish Lions hopefuls are concerned, it has not been a great weekend either and Andy Farrell will anxiously await news of Tom Curry’s wrist injury even if Sale’s director of rugby, Alex Sanderson, is hopeful the flanker has avoided a fracture.
The incident with the paratrooper happened shortly before kick-off. Two paratroopers had already landed successfully on the pitch when a third, Captain Yannick Trouillet, approaching from the north-east corner of the stadium, was caught on the edge of the roof. He was supposed to be delivering the match ball but it soon became clear that he was stuck, dangling 30 metres above the ground.
Supporters were evacuated from the area underneath before stewards began setting up a makeshift crash mat out of tackle bags. The Toulouse mascot, dressed as a lion, lent a hand, carrying post protectors for further ballast and a bouncy castle, complete with blow-up rugby posts, was hoisted on to the empty seats to further act as a landing spot.
The arrival of a fire engine prompted huge cheers from the crowd and two firefighters made their way to the stricken paratrooper via the cherrypicker. Trouillet was lifted to safety and brought down to earth. He was said to be unharmed, barring an entirely understandable bit of shock, and the organisers have offered him tickets for a future match.
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Murphy praises Ulster players in defeat against Bordeaux
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Ulster head coach Richie Murphy was proud of his players as they slipped out of the Champions Cup, losing 43-31 at Bordeaux-Bègles in the last 16. The visitors scored five tries at Stade Chaban-Delmas but saw their opponents run in six to book a quarter-final with fly-half Joey Carbery’s former team Munster.
Murphy told Premier Sports: “It was an incredible game, wasn’t it, end-to-end. The ball was kept in play for long periods, players on both sides looked very tired at times.
“They probably did better in the transitionary moments, but I have to say I’m incredibly proud of our players and what they produced today. I think we played some of our best rugby at times and one or two scores more and it could have been a very tight ending.”
Ulster trailed 21-0 after just 21 minutes, but tries from forwards Tom O’Toole and Dave McCann dragged them back into it before the break and Nick Timoney and Zac Ward, twice, crossed in the second half to keep their side in it until the final whistle.
Murphy said of his side: “All I can say is their commitment all week to put the plan together, nobody giving us a chance and what we’ve produced on the day – yes we’re disappointed we didn’t win, but we’ve got something to build on here.”
Bordeaux attack coach Noel McNamara saw Damian Penaud, Ben Tameifuna, Adam Coleman, Romain Buros, Maxime Lamothe and Rohan Janse van Rensburg touch down, but knows they will have to be better to get past Munster.
McNamara said: “The first thing you’ve got to do is give a lot of credit to Ulster. A lot of teams at 21-0 down might have struggled a little bit. They came back at us, they got a couple of tries at the end of that first half and again in the second half, they never went away.
“We spoke about it during the week, how much this competition means to Irish teams and how difficult they are to beat, so I think that was very much in evidence today.
“Obviously for us, the most important thing is getting through to the next round, and what a challenge that’s going to be.
“We’ve got a short turnaround – it’s only six days – and realistically speaking we probably know that that won’t be good enough, but I felt that overall it’s a positive and lots for us to work on.” PA Media
The chairman of European Professional Club Rugby, Dom McKay, who met Trouillet, said: “Following the incident at Le Stadium de Toulouse, we would like to extend our sincere thanks to all involved at the stadium, both clubs and the emergency services for safely returning the parachutist to the ground. The safety of the individual and of spectators in stadium is of the utmost priority. We will pick up with Stade Toulousain and the stadium in due course.”
Asked about the disruption, Sanderson said: “Panic, lads just wanted to know what’s going on. As soon as the fire engine got him down we had 15 minutes and then we can plan. There’s no doubt there was a little bit of disruption.”
Ben Curry, the captain, said: “That was a bit mental wasn’t it? Hopefully he’s all right. I don’t think they’re going to be doing that again anytime soon. Al [Sanderson] is very good at managing situations and you’ve just got to get on with it. It’s very French, isn’t it? Coming here, we knew there would be a lot of challenges and that threw another one in there.”
The match kicked off 39 minutes later than planned and Toulouse had the opening try after two more following a dash down the left from Blair Kinghorn. The hulking second-row Emmanuel Meafou was stopped short of the line but Jack Willis finished off from close range.
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Sale responded with an excellent try, patiently going through the phases before Luke James slipped the leash to go over on the right and a George Ford penalty gave them the lead.
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Toulouse threatened, Ange Capuozzo showing off his remarkable footwork, before Sale were dealt a major blow when Tom Curry was forced off. He was having a significant influence on the breakdown along with his brother Ben, who relished the contest with Willis. “He’s a good player, isn’t he?” said Ben Curry. “I probably would have penalised him a bit more if I were the referee, but I’ve got a lot of respect for Jack.”
Sale regrouped to extend their advantage, however, with Jonny Hill fighting his way over through heavy traffic. A Thomas Ramos penalty pegged Sale’s lead back to five before François Cros bulldozed his way to the try-line. Toulouse were struggling to find their rhythm but the captain Julien Marchand squeezed the ball down to give them breathing space before Capuozzo’s dart to the line late on, sustaining a nasty ankle injury in the process. Guillaume Cramont bludgeoned over for the fifth try with Sale running on empty.