'The last 10 minutes left us trembling'

HEINEKEN CUP FINAL REACTION:SO MUCH for the French not caring about Europe. Then again, this is Toulouse, who have now claimed 80 per cent of France's Cup wins.

Having bridged a seven-year gap in winning their record 17th Bouclier du Brennus last season, coach Guy Noves unashamedly targeted a fourth Heineken Cup, two more than their nearest challengers, after a five-year wait. Such trophyless years are considered famines by Toulouse standards, and hence this was voraciously acquired and celebrated as if it was their first.

It also confirms their status as the leading club in Europe and as if to remind everyone they immediately changed into pre-designed white T-shirts emblazoned with the four years they have won the trophy in gold numbering. Making off with the hoarding which hailed them as champions from the carefully assembled stage on half-way – as officials hilariously chased after them – the players paraded ahead of schedule with their supporters, who chanted: Ils sont là les toulousains! They are here, the Toulousains. They sure were.

Noves seemed almost to be trying too hard not to celebrate at first, but it transpired the taut endgame had drained him.

“The last 10 minutes left us trembling. Right until the end we were afraid, even though we felt we’d controlled the match from start to finish. But logic prevailed – if you have the ball, you create chances. We weren’t lacking much when it came to scoring.”

Effectively playing their fifth knock-out match on successive weekends, Noves had rotated his squad heavily the week before, resting Byron Kelleher entirely for fear of him joining Frederic Michalak and Jean-Baptiste Elissalde on the sidelines. The Toulouse scrum, which had suffered a blip in their domestic semi-final defeat to Perpignan, rediscovered its lustre when back to full-strength here.

“When you’re a coach, you don’t assess a scrum over the course of one game but over a season. And it’s been strong all season long. We put all our energy into this final but we had to handle the games that came before it in an intelligent way. I tried to ensure that the team would be at its best in this game. All the better that I did.

“Our game plan was based on speed and movement. You could see from the start that we tried to play,” he added. “It’s a pity our players weren’t rewarded for that. The final pass went abegging and a couple of times, with a bit more composure, we would have got behind their line.”

Man-of-the-match William Servat observed: “My biggest regret is that English referees don’t officiate in the French Championship. When I see Wayne Barnes, I tell myself, that it wouldn’t be any big deal; that in France the refereeing should be at that level.” Servat could scarcely wait for their return to la ville rose yesterday afternoon. “To arrive at Place du Capitole satisfied and euphoric – I’ve already had the good luck to live that. C’est enorme.”

The party will last a week.

A mightily relieved Thierry Dusautoir, twice a losing finalist with Biarritz and Toulouse against Munster, said: “I think we deserved to win a title this season. For me, it’s better than winning the Top 14. I lost two Heineken Cup finals and I daren’t think about what state I would have been in had we lost this match.”

Dimitri Yachvili, affected by an ankle injury from the end of the first half, also echoed the widespread Biarritz view that Toulouse deserved to win. “It’s a huge disappointment for those who, like me, lost the final against Munster in Cardiff in 2006. And, honestly, even if it hurts one cannot compare this second defeat to that of 2006. In Cardiff we deserved to win. Here, no. Toulouse hasn’t stolen this Cup. What else is there to say except that Toulouse has a great team, that it deserve to be champion of Europe and that we still have hard work in that regard.”

Looking trimmer and well, the Biarritz club president Serge Blanco admitted: “It’s a huge let down. We came to win, to be champions of Europe. But there it is, we were caught in the scrums, an area where we’re not used to getting shaken up like that and when that happens things become more complicated. Apart from that, we believed in ourselves right to the end. There could be a penalty, a drop, some little incidental to help us. It’s like that,” he said, shrugging.

“I think Toulouse deserve this title but we’re going to work to get back to the final for a third time. Don’t forget before Munster became one of the biggest clubs in Europe, they lost twice in the final. So we’re going to try to imitate them. We’ll be back a third time.”

Easier said than done, and with the nouveau riche pair of Toulon and Racing Metro also added to the mix, there was a sense this vintage Toulouse crop had to win on Saturday. A little reminder of that was the confirmation afterwards by the 32-year-old Jean-Baptiste Elissalde, an unused replacement, he is retiring. He is reportedly being earmarked for the role of backs coach. This is the Toulouse way.