Terrific Toulouse go on the rampage

WE DIDN'T just lose the arm wrestle - we had our wrists broken under the table," Bordeaux boss Yannick Bru admitted, graphically, after watching his side fall to a record 59-3 Top 14 final defeat at the hands of an irrepressible Toulouse in Marseille on Friday evening.

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"It's hard to compete with a Formula 1 team like that after coming through the play-offs... If you want to beat Toulouse in the final, you have to qualify directly for the semi-finals," he went on.

Positives are hard to find after a one-sided defeat like that - but he tried. "It is better to be outclassed in the final than to lose 29-28 on a late refereeing decision.

"Slaps like this are a reminder of humility and reflection. I hope that next season, we will be able to rise to this standard. There will be time to debrief. But that time has not arrived. Right now, we all need some rest." Bru had gambled on the fitness of star fly-half Matthieu Jalibert - who had missed the semi-final victory over Stade Francais with a thigh injury and tighthead prop 'Big' Ben Tameifuna, who picked up a shoulder injury in that match.

Neither one of them had matches to remember.

But Bru had no regrets about selecting players despite doubts over their fitness. "You can't beat Toulouse by playing small," he said.

"We had to take a gamble, and to do that we needed our best players on the pitch. On the other side, there were 23 internationals. With 23 other Bordeaux players, the result would have been identical." He has a point, but Jalibert admitted that he was struggling after the opening 15 minutes. "It was complicated," he said. "The season was as good as over for me.

But then Mateo Garcia felt some discomfort before the final ... [and] I was getting better and better.

"We decided to take the risk.