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M. Lebel (21', 48'), Penalty Try (23'), J. Brennan (40'), A. Jelonch (45'), T. Thomas (53')
Tries
L. Gallardo (37'), M. Granell (63'), M. Lotrian (71'), T. Ecochard (76'), M. Rabut (79')
B. Kinghorn (45', 48', 53')
Conversions
A. Aucagne (37', 71', 76', 79')
Stade Toulousain looked every inch the league leaders for an hour, building a hard, methodical grip either side of the break that had five points written all over it. Then they loosened the screws. A late flurry from USA Perpignan turned a routine bonus into a scramble and left Ugo Mola counting the cost of a dropped point and a jolt to his team’s game management.
This wasn’t about invention; it was about control. Toulouse changed the temperature of the contest with a score on half-time and another straight after it, flipping the feel from arm-wrestle to scoreboard authority. When they switched off, Perpignan didn’t suddenly dominate the pitch — they pounced on looseness. Four tries in the final 17 minutes dragged the margin to five and handed the visitors a losing bonus that had looked fanciful at 53 minutes.
The turn came in two beats. First, after USAP had finally broken through on 37 minutes via prop Lorencio Boyer Gallardo, Toulouse answered with a hammer blow: lock Joshua Brennan, back on after an early spell off, finished right on the buzzer. That 17–7 interval nudged the game out of chase range and forced Perpignan to play from behind. Then Anthony Jelonch, marking his return from a shoulder dislocation, muscled over just after the restart. Inside ten minutes of the second half it was Jelonch, Matthis Lebel and Teddy Thomas on the sheet, with USAP reduced at one point to 14 by Giorgi Tetrashvili’s yellow. The leaders were 38–7 and hunting the try-difference bonus.
Why did Toulouse get there so cleanly? Set-piece competence and phase accuracy. Their lineout was tidy enough to feed waves of front-foot carries, and their hooker was the best carrier on the field: Peato Mauvaka repeatedly dented the line and kept them on schedule in the red zone. Blair Kinghorn steered the first hour with economy, and the outside backs finished: Lebel clinical for two, Thomas’s angle a reminder that he is more than a finisher when the gain line is quick. The shape was familiar and effective — Dupont and Romain Ntamack were even able to enter at 61 with the game seemingly sealed.
CARRIES
CLEAN BREAKS
TACKLE
TACKLES MISSED
TURNOVERS WON
PENALTIES CONCEDED
YELLOW CARDS
POSSESSION
SCRUMS
LINEOUTS
And then it wasn’t. Toulouse’s tempo dropped, the backfield looked under-populated more than once, and their exits lost definition. Cheap turnovers and over-ambitious touches fed USAP transition ball and short-field scrums. Replacement hooker Mathys Lotrian was immediate impact, Tom Ecochard lifted the tempo around the ruck, wing Maxim Granell struck off broken field, and centre Maelan Rabut finished the late surge. With Antoine Aucagne knocking over four from four, Toulouse went from +5 tries to +1 in a blink and watched the offensive bonus disappear along with their comfort.
The visitors deserve credit for staying in it when it could have got messy. Their bench added urgency and accuracy; the ball was moved earlier, and they forced Toulouse to fold and reform under pressure. But the root of their problem is right where the game turned: they conceded at the worst possible moments, just before half-time and just after it, and their discipline frayed when the contest was still live — Diego Mascarenc’s first-half yellow and Tetrashvili’s second didn’t help a pack already living off scraps. Lineout ball was far from guaranteed and they spent too long defending in their own third to threaten the upset before the hour.
For Toulouse, the work-ons are obvious. The first 60 minutes were that of a champion team: patient, direct, and ruthless in the red zone. The last 20 were lax. Scoreboard feel shouldn’t dictate concentration, and losing an extra point at home is not nothing in a top-four race. The late wobble also keeps a live storyline in the tight five: with a medical joker deal for Jimmy Tupou falling through and absentees at lock, the minutes piling up on Brennan and stand-ins will need managing, even if it didn’t cost them here. The positive note is Jelonch’s sharp return — a try and plenty of nuisance at the breakdown — and Mauvaka’s form, which continues to give them clean launchpads.
Perpignan leave with more than a pat on the back. An away losing bonus at the leaders is tangible and the manner of it — four late strikes — gives them proof that their bench can change a game. They can’t, however, keep spotting good sides two soft scores around the interval and expect to pinch results; that pattern follows them on these trips. Clean up the discipline and secure more possession, and the attitude they keep talking about will translate earlier than minute 60.
In the end, the match told us both things at once: Toulouse have the control to build winning leads and the bad habit, on this evidence, of easing off; Perpignan have the resilience to make you pay if you do. One extra point gone for the hosts, one unexpected point gained for the visitors — and enough tape for both coaches to circle the same minutes next week.
