From our special correspondent in Toulouse
FAVORITES
Penaud, the scoring machine
And two who make 21. 21 tries in 37 selections, to overtake in the top of the tricolor markers Yannick Jauzion and Patrice Lagisquet (20 tries).
Here is now Damian Penaud in 10th place, two units behind 8th, tied, shared by Aurélien Rougerie and Christian Darrouy.
But still a little far from the first occupied by Serge Blanco with 38 tries.
But at only 26 years old, the Clermont winger can believe it.
Especially if he continues at this breakneck pace.
He has flattened eleven times in his last thirteen outings.
He is also the serial marker of the French vintage Galthié team.
With 16 tries scored since the start of the coach and his staff's mandate, Penaud is simply, and by far, the best scorer for the Blues over this three-year period.
An exciting Jalibert
Once again, Romain Ntamack had seemed very gloomy.
An assist on foot on Damian Penaud's first try, and that's about all in the plus column.
With his nose open – a few stitches had to be put in – the Toulousain was forced to leave the lawn in the 56th minute.
His great rival therefore had a little more time than usual to express himself.
24 minutes used to make the powder speak.
Two decisive individual actions, a few hooks to torture the Japanese, one or two inspirations to wrap it all up.
And display a gleaming line of stats: 42 yards won, the line of advantage broken twice, 6 defenders beaten and two assists on contact.
Next door, that of Ntamack pales in comparison.
24 meters gained… and that's it.
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CLAW STRIKES
Table tennis with the Japanese
In the 54th minute, the Toulouse public let their disapproval speak, their fed up.
It plays in disorder on the lawn of the Stadium, Maxime Lucu ends up recovering the ball, with a large excess (5 against 2) on his left.
But the UBB scrum-half chooses, once again, to kick.
A choice greeted by the whistles of the dissatisfied.
In a match that they dominated in front, against defenders who were hardly on point in defense (see below), the French kicked 43 times.
Too often to get rid of the ball in a game of dispossession that turns into an obsession… And ends up frustrating (television) viewers.
The Japanese defense beaten by ippon
38 missed tackles.
Out of 171 attempted.
That is a very low 78% success rate in this exercise.
It is therefore an understatement to say that the Japanese have offered largesse to the Blues.
The most prodigal?
The center Nakano, who missed 5. But the hooker Sakate, the third-line wing Labuschagne and the opener Lee follow him closely, with 4 missed tackles each.
Difficult to hope to win with such a permeable defense… By way of comparison, the Blues succeeded in 90% of their tackles, with only 11 failures (including 4 by Moefana alone…).