Big dogs and black leggings: Glasgow Warriors eye Toulouse rematch as Tuipulotu enjoys other side of comeback
Home team put the bite on six-time champions at rain-lashed Scotstoun
There is a feeling in the Glasgow Warriors camp that they will play Toulouse again in the latter stages of the Investec Champions Cup but for now they are entitled to bask in the glory of one of the competition’s great comebacks, perhaps even the greatest.
No-one gave them a prayer when they shuffled into the Scotstoun changing rooms at half-time 21-0 down. But we underestimated the fortitude within this squad and the steeliness instilled in them by Franco Smith.
They fought back to win 28-21 and, for Sione Tuipulotu, this was a particularly sweet result. Just four short weeks ago he and nine of his Glasgow team-mates were part of the Scotland 23 who blew a 21-0 lead against Argentina at Murrayfield, going down 33-24 after conceding five tries in the final 23 minutes.
The shoe was on the other foot at Scotstoun but the Scotland captain is mature enough to apply perspective to both outcomes - “triumph and disaster”, to quote Kipling - and treat those two impostors just the same.
“That's sport,” reflected the Scotland captain. “Sometimes you're on the good end, sometimes you're on the bad end. You've just got to try and limit the bad stuff. But a lot of those guys I shared that heartache with three, four weeks ago, I played with on Saturday night, and that's just rugby, I think.
Beating the big dogs of Europe
“And I said it after that game and I said it after the autumn that this group is a resilient group and that run in the autumn is not going to deter me from what I want to achieve and what this team wants to achieve. But we have to go out there and show that. We had to go out there and show that on Saturday night.
“And that's what I'm most proud about, is that to be who we think we are as a team, this Glasgow team, we've got to show it up, show it against the big dogs of Europe. And we did that, and no-one can take that away from us.”
Glasgow certainly kept their heads against Toulouse when plenty inside Scotstoun were losing theirs. Many of the home supporters were frustrated by the way the French side had taken control in the first half and were particularly vexed by referee Matthew Carley’s decision to allow their second try to stand when it looked like Antoine Dupont’s pass to Kalvin Gourgues had gone forward. The centre scored and added another before half-time to put Toulouse in the driving seat.
Natty pair of black leggings
Dupont, sporting a natty pair of black leggings, presumably in deference to Scotstoun’s unforgiving plastic pitch, was starting his first game since rupturing his cruciate playing for France against Ireland in the Six Nations. It took him around six-and-a-half minutes to bag the opening try and there was no signs of rust from the scrum-half whose ability to find time and space in a congested environment is second to none.
He departed the scene on 69 minutes, just before Glasgow took the lead for the first time. Not even the great Dupont could halt this extraordinary comeback.
“It's a massive win for us, but, you know, we've had other big nights here when we've won semi-finals and stuff like that,” said Tuipulotu. “And I think the sobering part of all this is that it's just a pool game. It just puts us in a good position where maybe we don't have to always do it the hard way and go away from home.
“So, I'm not looking too far ahead, to be honest. We've got another couple of big weeks back in the URC in the 1872 Cup and we've got two pretty hard games to finish off the European group in terms of Clermont and Saracens, both teams with a big history in this competition.”
Smith’s wind tactics
On a wild night in Glasgow, Toulouse had the wind behind them in the first half and made the most of it but the Warriors - just like they did last week against Sale - weathered the storm and tries in the second half from Josh McKay, Gregor Brown, Tuipulotu and Gregor Hiddleston turned the game in their favour.
Tuipulotu revealed that it was a tactic of Smith's to play into the wind in the first half.
“Look, last week we were down 14-0 [against Sale] and a lot of that was weather dependent,” said the centre. “We were running into the wind in the first half [v Toulouse] and that was the plan that Franco wanted to do all week. We wanted to run into the wind in the first half, knowing we'd trained pretty hard with Franco, knowing that the back end of the game could, if we could swing momentum, be in our favour.
“It felt like a 20-point wind that we were playing into and it did start swirling in the second half, but you saw how much the momentum flipped once we scored one try and we were able to hold the ball.”
It was a disappointing night for Blair Kinghorn, returning to Scotland in Toulouse colours. He was jeered by some of the home fans when he was substituted in the second half but the former Edinburgh man showed his class by congratulating Glasgow afterwards.
“Blair came into our changing room,” said Tuipulotu. “He's one of my best mates, actually, off the field, and I always probably spend more time with him in camp than anyone when we go into Scotland, but I said a lot of things to him on the field as well!
“No, we had a good time out there, and I wish him the best. Hopefully if we can do well in the next two games, I'm sure if we can continue on this route, Toulouse are still going to be in the competition, aren't they?
“So I wouldn't be surprised if we have to play them again if we take care of business in the next two games.”
A Glasgow-Toulouse final in Bilbao in May would be a sequel to savour.
Teams and scorers
Scorers: Glasgow Warriors: Tries: McKay, Brown, Tuipulotu, Hiddleston. Cons: Hastings 4. Toulouse: Tries: Dupont, Gourgues 2. Cons: Ramos 3.
Glasgow Warriors: J McKay (D Lancaster 53); K Steyn (c), S McDowall, S Tuipulotu, O Smith (G Horne 47); A Hastings, J Dobie; N McBeth (R Sutherland 71), G Hiddleston (S Stephen 71), Z Fagerson (S Talakai 71), M Williamson (G Brown 47), S Cummings, M Fagerson (A Craig 71), R Darge, J Dempsey (A Miller 79).
Stade Toulousain: T Ramos; A Capuozzo, P Costes, K Gourgues, B Kinghorn (T Thomas 73); R Ntamack, A Dupont (P Graou 69); D Ainu'u (R Neti 51), J Marchand (T Lacombre 67), D Aldegheri (J Merkler 51), J Brennan (E Meafou 50), T Flament, J Willis, L Banos (M Castro-Ferreira 69), A Jelonch (A Roumat 50).
Referee: Matthew Carley (Eng).
Attendance: 7,321.
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