Toulouse took an option on Saturday to qualify directly for the semi-finals of the Top 14 thanks to its improved 34-16 victory against Racing 92 in the shock of the 22nd day, but the leader lost Yoann Huget to an injury probably synonymous with end of career.
The evening would have been perfect for the Rouge et Noir if their winger, who had announced that he wanted to hang up his crampons at the end of the season, had not left the field, shortly after the half hour of the game, carried by trainers , right ankle in a boot, after lying on the ground for a long time, wincing in pain.
Affected by an acceleration in the Achilles tendon, from which he already suffered recurrently, the 33-year-old player, selected 62 times for the France team, has undoubtedly bowed out in a sadly empty Ernest-Wallon stadium, under the applause from his teammates and several of his opponents.
He had had the elegance, a few minutes earlier, to put his team into orbit by perhaps scoring the last try of his rich career, punctuated by two French league titles in 2008 and 2019 with Toulouse, at the reception of a wonder of a jump pass from international hooker Peato Mauvaka.
The Toulousains added two more – penalty and by Pierre Fouyssac and Antoine Dupont, captain for an evening – to sign, as a tribute to their teammate, much appreciated by the locker room, a very valuable prestigious success in the standings.
Thirteen points ahead
They are now 13 points ahead of Racing (one match less) and Clermont, who fell in Lyon in the afternoon. What to see coming four days from the end of the regular season.
Racing remains third despite this third consecutive defeat in the championship, its only goal of the season after its elimination in the quarter-finals of the European Cup.
A few days after his hasty departure from the Stade Français, which made a lot of noise, the big debut in his new Gaël Fickou jersey, who entered after half an hour of play, were not enough.
Without his friends of the XV of France Virimi Vakatawa, Bernard Le Roux and Camille Chat, three names from a long list of injured to which must be added the absence of Finn Russell, suspended, the Racingmen did not have the weapons to fight against that Toulouse.
After having turned in Castres, for a meager defeat (26-24), the Haut-Garonnais coach Ugo Mola had brought out the heavy artillery to prepare for the semi-final of the European Cup next weekend against Bordeaux- Begles, if sanitary conditions allow. It will be without Yoann Huget.
–
