Toulouse back on track after hammering Bordeaux

Champions Toulouse bounced back from their shock defeat to La Rochelle last week with a stunning eight-try 48-12 thrashing of an under-strength Bordeaux-Begles on Sunday.

A week after Bordeaux had stormed to the top of the table with a 10-try blitzing of Racing 92, they were on the receiving end in the Ernest-Wallon stadium.

And this was another chastening night for the Champions Cup holders against the dominant domestic force, who beat them 56-13 in the same fixture last season, and dished out a 59-3 humiliation in the 2024 Top 14 final.

The victory moved Toulouse above Bordeaux into fourth behind the only three teams to win both their opening matches, Pau, Lyon and La Rochelle.

"It's just one match but overall it was a complete performance, even though we struggled to keep scoring in the second half," said try-scorer Cyril Baille.

"We knew that Bordeaux wouldn't give up, we knew they would come back with intent (in the second half).

"It was a bit scrappier, we need to work on that."

Kalvin Gourgues started the try-fest as he raced onto Ange Capuozzo's grubber, before the Italy wing returned the favour for the French centre.

Hooker Julien Marchand barged over next from the back of a rolling maul before Argentina centre Santiago Chocobares pounced on an overthrown line-out by the front-rower to go over under the posts.

Antoine Dupont then set up wing Teddy Thomas for the fifth and Marchand went over again for the sixth on the stroke of half-time.

Thomas Ramos, widely considered the best kicker in the world, missed the first three conversions, after which Romain Ntamack took over and nailed the next three.

"We weren't in it in the first half. It went too fast, too hard, we didn't have enough intensity to compete at the gainline," said Bordeaux wing Pablo Uberti.

"And when you're on the back foot against a team like this, it's unforgiving."

Prop Baille dotted down in the corner early in the second half for Toulouse's seventh try.

Bordeaux coach Yannick Bru responded by throwing on some first team regulars, including scrum-half Maxime Lucu, Tonga prop Toma'akino Taufa and English back-rower Tom Willis, whose older brother Jack started for Toulouse.

It worked as Uberti and then Taufa went over to reduce the deficit.

Flying France wing Louis Bielle-Biarrey then scythed through a back-peddling defence for what seemed to be his customary score, only for Romain Buros to be harshly penalised for a block on Gourgues.

Thomas then went over in the corner for a second try but that too was chalked off for a forward pass by Scotland full-back Blair Kinghorn.

Yet Toulouse had the last word from a rolling maul as replacement prop Georges-Henri Colombe notched up the eighth try.