Toulouse will defend their Top 14 crown in Paris next Saturday after they beat Castres by 24-15 in the Stadium de Toulouse.
The semi-final like so many was not a classic and in fact the first half was more a case of teams advancing thanks to the opposition mistakes, rather than class. For all this it was Castres who looked the more dangerous side and two yellow cards late in the first period should have seen them pull away. But it was Toulouse who stepped up a gear and even managed points helping them in at the break at 15-12. By this time Castres had squandered a possible 17 points through missed kicks and Max Evans being unable to ground what looked like a certain try.
The second period and Toulouse started to take a grip, this coupled with Mc Alister kicking all the points he was offered. So it was that although Castres kept in touch until the 46th minute when the scores were tied at 15-15. mc Alister kicked penalties on 51, 61 and 71 minutes to take Toulouse out to yet another fianl and gave us the finishing score of:
Toulouse 24 – 15 Castres
Scorers
Toulouse
Drop: Bauxis
Pens: Beauxis, Mc Alister 6
Castres
Drop: Bernard
Pens: Teulet, bernard 3
Teams
Toulouse: Jean batiste Poux, William Servat, Census Johnston, Yoann Maestri, Patricio Albacete, Jean Bouilhou, Thierry Dusautoir (C), Louis Picamoles, Jean marc Doussain, Lionel Beauxis, Timoci Matanavou, Luke Mcalister, Florian Fritz, Vincent Clerc, Clement Poitrenaud.
Replacements: Christopher eric Tolofua, Gurthro Steenkamp, Romain Millo chlusky, Gregory Lamboley, Luke Burgess, Yann David, Yannick Jauzion, Yohan Montes.
Castres: Yannick Forestier, Mathieu Bonello, Luc Ducalcon, Matthias Rolland, Joe Tekori, Ibrahim Diarra, Yannick Caballero, Matemini Masoe, Thierry Lacrampe, Pierre Bernard, Marc Andreu, Romain Cabannes, Maxwell Evans, Romain Martial, Romain Teulet.
Replacements: Marc antoine Rallier, Saimone Taumoepeau, Rodrigo Capo ortega, Jan de bruin Bornman, Rory Kockott, Seremaia Baikeinuku, Thomas Sanchou, Karena Wihongi.
Referee: Jerome Garces
Final Saturday 9 June at 17:00 live on ESPN (UK) Toulouse will need to up their game if they are to beat either Clermont or Toulon.