A powerful Toulouse team secured their spot in the last 16 of the Investec Champions Cup as they wracked up 11 tries against Alex Sanderson’s young Sharks.
Sharks fly-half Tom Curtis scored the only Sharks try as the Top14 leaders showed their class to win 77-7 at the Stade Ernest-Wallon.
With a long injury list featuring many of Sharks’ biggest names, the Sharks Director of Rugby handed first Champions Cup starts to Ollie Davies and Jos Gilmore while Reuben Logan and Patrick Hogg came off the bench for their first appearances in the competition.
Fellow academy graduates Tom Burrow, Dom Hanson, Tristan Woodman, Obi Ene, Patreece Bell, Alex Wills and Joe Bedlow also gained valuable minutes in one of Europe’s most hostile environments.
A win for the already qualified Sharks would have knocked the six-time winners out, but that never looked likely as Toulouse scored three tries inside the opening 30 minutes.
French internationals Emmanuel Meafou, Julien Marchand and Antoine Dupont all crossed, with Kalvin Gourgues adding the bonus-point try.
Dimitri Delibes, Matthis Lebel and Thomas Ramos all added second-half scores and Dupont crossed for a stunning second try after replacement Paul Graou dived over. Joshua Brennan and another from Lebel completed the scoring.
French superstar Ramos impressively nailed all 11 conversions to put a gloss on the home side’s performance and set up a last 16 clash at home to Bristol.
This result coupled with Glasgow’s win over Saracens meant Sharks finished third in pool one and earned an away trip to face Harlequins in the last 16.
Speaking post-match, Alex Sanderson praised his side’s effort.
He said: “There were some individual performances which I think some of the players can be proud of. Lads who have had one or two games of Champions Cup rugby showed, in moments, that they can compete at this level against one of the very best club teams.
“Collectively, the players and myself find the result unacceptable, for a team that prides itself on defence and being gritty.
“Discipline was the biggest factor both with and without the ball. When we had the ball we turned it over too often at the breakdown and three sin bins gave them too much time and too many opportunities.
“I know how much that will hurt but these lads will be better for it as they go through their careers.
“We’ve got a good team and we’re really looking forward to going on the road with our strongest line-up and trying to progress further. I believe we’ve got a squad that can do that.
“There’s still loads to play for this season and we have to lick our wounds and crack on. We will do that.”
