Fireworks and a record attendance of 9,120 greeted the Connacht team on to the pitch for the first ever Heineken Cup game to be played in the Sportsground. However it was the French champions Toulouse who struck first through the boot of Lionel Beauxis. Connacht put huge pressure on the re-start and the clearing kick failed to vacate the 22. However the power and physicality of the Toulouse pack was well on top from the start. A great break by scrum half Luke Burgess and crossfield kick from Yannick Jauzion almost sent them over in the corner but was knocked on by Medard. The Toulouse scrum put huge pressure on the Connacht pack and gave Beauxis the platform to kick a drop-goal. On 14 minutes the Connacht defensive line was called offside and Beauxis kicked his second penalty to give the French side a 9-0 lead. on 22 minutes the Toulouse scrum piles massive pressure on Connacht and a break from Dusatoir who offloaded to Beauxis who crossed for a try. He kicked to conversion to give himeslf and Toulouse a 16-0 lead. Gavin Duffy soared high to claim the restart and Connacht broke into the Toulouse 22. However the move broke down and as Toulouse broke up the field, Vincent Clerc slid into Mike McCarthy's tackle and the Connacht forward saw yellow. Toulouse pilled the pressure on 10 man Connacht and and Beauxis kicked another penalty on 32 minutes. Three minutes later Connacht got themselves on the scoreboard. Toulouse were judged to be offside at a ruck and Miah Nikora kicked the penalty between to College Road posts. Beauxis struck back with another penalty on 39 minutes to leave the half-time score Connacht 3-22 Toulouse. 

Connacht raced out of the traps in the second half with some huge hits by Dave McSharry and Michael Swift. However seven minutes into the half Connacht were dealt a huge body blow when the referee awarded the Toulouse scrum a penalty try which Beauxis converted. Connacht used that to spur them on and began to pressurise Toulouse much to the delight of the home crowd. Connacht kept applying pressure on the Toulouse defensive line for almost 10 minutes and looked to get a reward on 67 minutes only for Mike Mccarthy to knock on. On 70 minutes Connacht got their just rewards when a huge scrum won a penalty try for the home side. Nikora kicked the conversion to narrow the gap to 29-10. However on 75 minutes, Ethienne Reynecke saw Connacht's second yellow card for a synacal foul. The Toulouse pack shoved over for their third try a minute later and with the conversion from Beauxis the Final score read Connacht 10-36 Toulouse. It was a spirited second-half performance from Connacht who welcome the Ospreys to the Sportsground next Saturday in the RaboDirect PRO12. Tickets are on sale now from Ticketmaster and the Connacht Branch offices.

photos www.inpho.ie