Heineken Cup - Cardiff Blues v Toulouse (Saturday 11th April)
Published: 08/04/2009
Cardiff Blues v Toulouse
Current Form
- Cardiff are on a relatively poor run, only winning 2 out of their last 5 games domestically. Despite this they finished top of their Heineken Cup pool, winning all 6 of their games, including away games at Gloucester and Biarritz. Out of all the teams in the competition, Cardiff finished the group stage with the most points.
- Toulouse meanwhile are sitting top of the French Top 14 having only lost 4 games all season domestically. In the group stages Toulouse finished second to Bath, in the process losing surprisingly at home to Glasgow.
History
- Despite both Cardiff and Toulouse being synonymous with European success, the two teams have only met 5 times in the competition – the first of which was in 1996 in the first ever final.
- Toulouse have dominated the fixture historically, winning all but one of these games.
- These teams met in the quarter finals of last year’s competition, but the fixture was held at Toulouse. Toulouse comprehensively beat Cardiff, winning 41-17 and scoring 4 tries in the process.
- Toulouse have been runners up twice and have won the competition on 3 occasions, the most recent of which came in the 2004/05 campaign, beating French rivals Stade Francais 18-12 in the final.
Trends and Trivia
- Despite Toulouse being notorious for their attacking flair, Cardiff have scored nearly twice as many tries as them this year (23 compared to 12) including 4 in the last 10 minutes. The suggestion that Cardiff finish the game strongly is strengthened by the fact that Cardiff haven’t conceded a single try in the last 10 minutes.
- Cardiff’s Gareth Thomas is joint second top try scorer in this year’s competition with 4, while Toulouse’s most prolific scorer is Maxime Medard with 3. Medard comes into this game after a successful first 6 Nations, scoring 3 tries and playing every minute of every game.
- Cardiff have played this year’s competition with the smallest group of players – only 19 players starting Heineken Cup games this year for the Blues, this ploy appears to have worked, given that they are seeded first for the quarter finals.
- Toulouse in contrast have used 8 players more, but have also fielded the most players over 30, 13.
- Referee Chris White will be taking control of this game, and has given out a card in each of his 3 games this year – all of which have come in the first half.
- Vincent Clerc has only featured in 2 Heineken Cup games this year, but has scored once, if he scores again on Saturday he will become joint top in the all time top try scorers. An even more impressive statistic given that if he scores on Saturday he will have scored those 29 tries in 20 games fewer than current leader Dafydd James.
