European Rugby Champions Cup: Toulouse 42-27 Wasps

France wing Yoann Huget scored in the second minute

Wasps' hopes of reaching the Champions Cup knockout stage are over as Toulouse remained unbeaten at the top of Pool 1 with a bonus-point victory.

Yoann Huget, Joe Tekori, Romain Ntamack and Antoine Dupont crossed for the four-time European champions.

Josh Bassett, Willie Le Roux and Ross Neal replied for Wasps, with 12 points coming from the boot of European debutant Billy Searle.

Wasps are fourth in Pool 1 with only two games left to play.

Toulouse are two points ahead of Leinster, who beat Bath later on Saturday.

• European Champions Cup standings

• Leinster 42-15 Bath

Two attacks dominate

Rain earlier in the day in Toulouse suggested ball handling would be made more difficult but neither side had many problems in the first half.

A frantic first 15 minutes saw three tries and a penalty scored, including France wing Huget crossing in the first two minutes.

Their European campaign may be over, but Wasps will take positives from the way they constructed some impressive attacking moves against a side that has only lost once at home this term.

Their first try was created when the visitors first found themselves with numbers on the left and hooker Ashley Johnson sent wing Bassett over.

England utility back Elliot Daly then demonstrated his power and speed as he broke through in the midfield to allow Le Roux to score.

Rain returned at half-time, but it did not hamper Toulouse's efficiency as France scrum-half Dupont and Wasps wing Neal crossed after just five minutes of the second-half.

The quality of play went downhill until Thomas Ramos cut through the Wasps defence to give Dupont a deserved second try in a man-of-the-match performance.

What they said

Toulouse head coach Ugo Mola said: "In our sport, you have to play and stop others from being able to play.

"So it was very satisfying from an attacking point of you, but much less in terms of our ability to defend in key moments.

"But we're on 17 points after four rounds in the Champions Cup in a really strong pool, so mission accomplished."

Wasps director of rugby Dai Young said: "I thought our attack was probably the best it has been all season and we put some really good stints in in defence.

"It wasn't enough on the day so we are never going to rejoice and pat ourselves on the back for losing. But if we can build on this, it will take a good team to beat us.

"I thought we looked more like the old Wasps out there. I've said in the last two to three weeks we're looking more like the team we want to be.

"All we need is a win and that will only add to the belief moving forward. Hopefully that's sooner rather than later."

Teams

Toulouse: Ramos; Huget, Guitoune, Ntamack, Kolbe; Holmes, Dupont; Castets, Marchand, Aldegheri, Verhaeghe, Tekori, Cros, Elstadt, Kaino.

Replacements: Pointud for Castets (52), Van Dyk for Aldegheri (52), Galan for Elstadt (52), Mermoz for Ntamack (52), Mauvaka for Marchand (57), Medard for Huget (67), Bezy for Dupont (67), Axtens for Tekori (74)

Wasps: Le Roux; Neal, Daly, Le Bourgeois, Bassett; Searle, Hampson; Harris, Johnson, Brookes, Matthews, Myall, Morris, Young, Carr.

Replacements: Stuart for Brookes (53), Zhvania for Harris (53), Willis for Young (53), Campagnaro for Le Bourgeois (53), Porter for Hampson (57), Harris for Johnson (62), Rowlands for Myall (62), Sopoaga for Searle (68)

Ref: Nigel Owens (Wales)

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