There are plenty of decent teams out there but, at club level, the force is unquestionably with Toulouse. By winning a dramatic sixth Champions Cup title they have propelled themselves another giant step beyond their biggest European rivals and remain a formidable side in anybody’s language.
Club rugby occasions do not come bigger or more tense and nothing was remotely guaranteed with the scores tied at 15-15 at the end of normal time and the atmosphere increasingly gladiatorial. Cometh the hour, cometh les hommes. Three minutes into the first period of extra time, with James Lowe in the sin-bin, the French giants stretched Leinster’s depleted defence wide on the left and Matthis Lebel scorched over for the game-breaking try.
