Oyonnax claim famous Toulouse win
They beat four-time champions Toulouse 32-14 with a four-try bonus-point display.
Those tries for the hosts came through Silvere Tian, Uwa Tawalo, Fabien Cibray and Eamonn Sheridan with Nicky Robinson and Regis Lespinas kicking their remaining points.
Toulouse registered two tries through powerful No.8 Gillian Galan, both converted by scrum-half David Mele but it was nowhere near enough on a snowy day at Stade Charles-Mathon.
The hosts could hardly have wished for a better start. Toulouse made a mess of gathering the opening kick-off and Oyonnax gratefully swooped on the loose ball and sent wing Tian in at the corner with just 26 seconds on the clock.
Robinson converted and it was not long before the former Wales international was lining up another conversion.
The flyhalf produced a lovely grubber in behind the Toulouse defence and Tawalo gathered to get over the line.
Robinson soon added a penalty and Toulouse looked in for a long match at 17-0 down, but they finally rallied just before half-time.
Galan was the man to finish off a strong rolling maul, with Mele converting, and Oyonnax then lost lock Geoffrey Fabri to the bin for a high tackle.
When Galan got over for his second try early in the second half, after a Cibray clearance was charged down, the game appeared to be back in the melting pot.
But the scrum-half atoned for his error by picking off a loose pass to run in an interception score, before a Lespinas penalty and Sheridan's try completed the job and gave them a famous victory over their Top 14 rivals.
The scorers:
For Oyonnax:
Tries: Tian, Tawolo, Cibray, Sheridan
Cons: Robinson 2, Lespinas
Pens: Robinson, Lespinas
For Toulouse:
Tries: Galan 2
Con: Mele 2
Yellow card: Fabrice Metz (Oyonnax, 39)
Teams:
Oyonnax: 15 Quentin Etienne, 14 Silvere Tian, 13 Vincent Martin, 12 Eamonn Sheridan, 11 Uwa Tawalo, 10 Nicky Robinson, 9 Fabien Cibray, 8 Viliami Ma'afu, 7 Olivier Missoup, 6 Maurie Fa'asavalu, 5 Fabrice Metz, 4 Geoffrey Fabbri, 3 Antoine Guillamon, 2 Jody Jenneker, 1 Laurent Delboulbès.
Replacements: 16 Jeremie Maurouard, 17 Soane Tonga'uiha, 18 Giorgi Vepkhvadze, 19 Valentin Ursache, 20 Pierrick Gunther, 21 Julien Blanc, 22 Regis Lespinas, 23 Guillaume Bousses.
Toulouse: 15 Clément Poitrenaud, 14 Kunatani Kunabuli, 13 Toby Flood, 12 Paul Perez, 11 Timoci Matanavou, 10 Luke McAlister, 9 David Mele, 8 Gillian Galan, 7 Gregory Lamboley, 6 Thierry Dusautoir, 5 Joe Tekori, 4 Romain Millo-Chluski, 3 Nemiah Tialata, 2 Julien Marchand, 1 Cyril Baille.
Replacements: 16 Dorian Aldegheri, 17 Vasil Kakovin, 18 Gert Muller, 19 Patricio Albacete, 20 Francois Cros, 21 Christopher Tolofua, 22 Jean-Marc Doussain, 23 Vincent Clerc.
Referee: Greg Garner (England)
Assistant referees: Tim Wigglesworth (England), Andrew Pearce (England)
TMO: Geoff Warren (England)
Source: @ChampionsCup
