Castres will face Racing 92 at Groupama Stadium in next weekend’s Top 14 semi-finals after beating Toulouse 23-11 in their clash on Saturday.
This Barrage clash was a frustrating fixture for Toulouse as, in front of their Stade Ernest Wallon crowd, they were shocked by the visitors.
Despite having Jody Jenneker red carded in the second period, Castres ran out as deserved winners and will head to Lyon full of confidence.
They led 13-6 at the break and extended that buffer early in the second-half to 17 points, which proved to be enough for their progression.
Armand Batlle scored first for Christophe Urios’ men as he finished off a nice attack that came from an overthrown line-out from Toulouse. Benjamin Urdapilleta added the conversion before two penalties from Toulouse full-back Thomas Ramos reduced the arrears to 7-6 to Castres.
Richie Gray was then caught offside though, which allowed Rory Kockott to make it 10-6 from halfway before Urdapilleta chipped in for 13-6.
Crucially for Castres they would build on their lead in the second period when, after a long-range penalty miss from Kockott, they turned Toulouse over in their 22 and Batlle then finished well, reaching out for the try. With Urdapilleta’s extras Castres had one foot in the semis.
Toulouse would not roll over, however, as an earlier close call for Cheslin Kolbe in the corner was followed up by Leonardo Ghiraldini getting over from a metre out for 23-11. That conceded score was compounded for Castres by Jody Jenneker being sent-off for striking at a ruck.
But as time wore on it became more and more unlikely that Toulouse would launch a dramatic late surge against 14 men, with Castres rarely troubled as they now march on to Lyon where Racing 92 lie in wait.
The scorers:
For Toulouse:
Try: Ghiraldini
Pens: Ramos 2
For Castres:
Tries: Batlle 2
Cons: Urdapilleta 2
Pens: Kockott 2, Urdapilleta
Red Card: Jenneker
Toulouse: 15 Thomas Ramos, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Gael Fickou, 12 Florian Fritz, 11 Maxime Medard, 10 Zack Holmes, 9 Sebastien Bezy, 8 Francois Cros, 7 Piula Faasalele, 6 Rynhard Elstadt, 5 Yoann Maestri, 4 Richie Gray, 3 Charlie Faumuina, 2 Julien Marchand, 1 Cyril Baille
Replacements: 16 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 17 Lucas Pointud, 18 Joe Tekori, 19 Louis-Benoit Madaule, 20 Talalelei Gray, 21 Jean-Marc Doussain, 22 Wandile Mjekevu, 23 Dorian Aldegheri
Castres: 15 Julien Dumora, 14 Armand Batlle, 13 Thomas Combezou, 12 Afusipa Taumoepeau, 11 David Smith, 10 Benjamin Urdapilleta, 9 Rory Kockott, 8 Maama Vaipulu, 7 Mathieu Babillot, 6 Yannick Caballero, 5 Loic Jacquet, 4 Thibault Lassalle, 3 Daniel Kotze, 2 Jody Jenneker, 1 Antoine Tichit
Replacements: 16 Marc-Antoine Rallier, 17 Tudor Stroe, 18 Rodrigo Capo Ortega, 19 Steve Mafi, 20 Florian Vialelle, 21 Alex Tulou, 22 Ludovic Radosavljevic, 23 Paea Fa’anunu
Referee: Romain Poite
Assistant referees: Ludovic Cayre, Cyril Lafon
TMO: Philippe Bonhoure
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