By Lucky Vince Pienaar
It was a club match, worthy of a test match between France and Ireland when Stade Toulouse and Leinster played a 100-minute match on Saturday in the EPCR Cup final.
In a match that was a glorious forward grind, there were many highlights with the most interesting contest being the battle of the scrumhalves.
Antoine Dupont and Jamison Gibson-Park, possibly the two best number 9s in the world right now, delivered everything the contest had promised before the match.
Both of them – Dupont the more flashy, Gibson-Park the more deliberate – dictated the action of their teams from behind their scrums.
It was already in the first minute that a collision between the two scrumhalves provided a highlight of the match.
Brilliant playmaker, Dupont looked certain to score right in the left-hand corner, but there was one tackle still to come. Gibson-Park came from the side to hit him above the knees sliding down to the ankles.
The ball was grounded, but was Dupont in touch?
“No try,” said referee Matthew Carlee after many replays.
At full-time, with the score at 15-15, there had been no tries. It took until extra time when both teams scored one try each.
Don’t be fooled by the final score. The match was in the balance until the last few minutes.
Man of the match could have been Gibson-Park or even Leinster flank Josh van der Flier, but the worthy winner was Antoine Dupont and when all is said and done, Stade Toulouse were worthy winners of the EPCR Cup.
Leinster 22-31 Stade Toulouse
Leinster tries: Josh van der Flier
Toulouse tries: Matthis Lebel
Pictured above: Toulouse.
Image source: Toulouse/X
