Kolbe speaks about those showstopping tries
REACTION: World Cup-winning Springbok flyer Cheslin Kolbe was keen to deflect attention away from his own exploits and onto his teammates.
Kolbe, one of the star performers in South Africa’s triumphant march to the Webb Ellis Cup in Japan last year, scored twice as Toulouse hammered Ulster 36-8 on Sunday to qualify for the semifinals of the European Champions Cup.
Kolbe dotted down twice in the first half – before the floodgates opened as Antoine Dupont, Pita Akhi and Thomas Ramos crossed in the final half-an-hour of play.
“Scoring tries is always great, it is the cherry on top of the cake, but I must give credit to my teammates,” Kolbe said in his post-match reaction.
“Without them, wings are nothing.
“We have to make sure we don’t get ahead of ourselves”
“Hopefully we can make history again.”
Star of the match, man of the hour, Cheslin Kolbe reflects as Toulouse book their spot in the semis.#HeinekenChampionsCup pic.twitter.com/OZX0HKAQdD
— Rugby on BT Sport (@btsportrugby) September 20, 2020
“They give us the go-forward on which to capitalise.
“We stuck to what was expected and the forwards got the gain line for us to create the opportunities.
“Quarterfinal games are about opportunities and discipline and they were outstanding. But there are still a lot of things we can improve on going into next week.
“We just have to make sure we don’t get ahead of ourselves and keep working as hard as we can.
“There are two more games left and hopefully we can make history again and make our supporters, the jersey and ourselves proud.”
Kolbe opened the scoring after just three minutes but with Ramos struggling with his kicking, Toulouse were unable to break down the obdurate Ulster defence.
Kolbe, however, touched down for a second try just before the break and second-half tries from scrumhalf Dupont, centre Ahki and full-back Ramos closed out a comfortable win.
John Cooney added a late consolation try for Ulster.
It is the 11th time that four-time champions Toulouse have reached this stage of the European Cup.
Cheslin Kolbe sitting down centres now…
He is a phenomenon. pic.twitter.com/dU61zJrrMV
— Murray Kinsella (@Murray_Kinsella) September 20, 2020
Kolbe is a restart specialist too.
Has slotted in at number eight on scrum plays for Toulouse before. Has had starts at 10 and 15 also.
He’s still only 26! pic.twitter.com/gs5miHU5mT
— Murray Kinsella (@Murray_Kinsella) September 20, 2020
“Toulouse are a good team and when you make mistakes they are going to punish you,” said Ulster head coach Dan McFarland.
“The slightest error and they are through to score.
“They showed that and they are a great team. On the reverse side of things, we know we didn’t look like a quarterfinal team.
“For whatever reason, we haven’t been playing very well after the break and it looked like that. We got punished and we deserved it.
“We just aren’t playing very well at the moment – that’s the bottom line.
“I was really pleased with the way the forwards went up front. We talked about their pack and for 60 minutes our scrum was excellent and our set-piece worked well – hats off to the forwards but in other areas of the game we weren’t at the races.”
Sources: AFP & RugbyPass
