Toulouse-Bath: Meafou overpowering, Russell not inspired... The tops and flops

TOPS

The future French international once again put in a great performance against Bath this Sunday. The Toulouse tractor was constantly the anchor of his team, monopolizing several players on each of his charges. Meafou was rewarded for his activity with a try at the start of the game (7th) after a strike a few meters from the English goal line and with the honorary title of man of the match. Logic. If he maintains this level on the international scene, the Auckland native should do a lot of damage...

While Harlequins conceded 47 at home against these same Toulouse players, Exeter is no longer the Exeter of a few seasons ago and Saracens are only a shadow of themselves, Bath showed a very nice face this Sunday. In the wake of the excellent Miles Reid and Ollie Lawrence, the English prove that they are back in shape after several difficult seasons. Rather than taking the points, Stuart Hooper's men preferred to hit the line-out to drive home the point. Without success. But Bath, thanks to its good run, reached the round of 16 of the Champions Cup.

FLOPS

In 10 minutes, Ugo Mola's men had scored two tries and were already leading 12 to 0. We said, logically, that it would be a long afternoon for Bath. Nay! The Toulouse residents showed themselves to be abnormally undisciplined and clumsy. They also suffered in defense against repeated attacks from Obano, Reid, Ojomoh and Lawence. Ramos and his teammates still set the record straight at the end of the match thanks to two late tries from Mallia and Ramos.

When Finn Russell is having a good day and usually his whole team is in tune. But this Sunday, that was not the case. The Scottish international was not inspired, like a missed “laser” pass (20th) or a rebound pass for Cokanasiga a few moments later. His foot pass on the wing to Bayliss was also missed (21st) and his pass too high (47th) put his team under pressure. Not very offensive, Russell did not carry enough weight.