Toulouse back on track
The fog meant that the match was abandoned after 63 minutes but the result stands for the former kings of European rugby to notch up a win after five tournament defeats and a draw.
But needing to get maximum points out of their back-to-back matches against the struggling Italians, they were pegged back initially by two penalties from home flyhalf Carlo Canna.
In between those two kicks, Sebastien Bezy got the four-times European champions off the mark with a penalty of his own. The rest of the first half was pretty much one way traffic as the Top 14 team got into gear – wing Arthur Bonneval the first to cross the Zebre line with a 16th minute try that Bezy converted.
Then came a burst of two tries in five minutes from centre Gael Fickou and lock Joe Tekori, both converted by Bezy, that put Toulouse in total command. On the stroke of half-time, wing Yoann Huget secured the bonus point and Bezy's conversion made it 29-6 at the break.
There was no let up for the home side in the second half as Bonneval raced over for his second try and Bezy's conversion took the lead out to 30 points.
That was that as the 1996, 2003, 2005 and 2010 champions kept themselves in the mix and will be out for more of the same in the quick fire return in Round Four.
Scorers:
For Zebre:
Pens: Canna 2
For Toulouse:
Tries: Bonneval 2, Fickou, Tekori, Huget
Cons: Bezy 4
Pen: Bezy
Teams:
Zebre: 15 Edoardo Padovani, 14 Mattia Bellini, 13 Tommaso Boni, 12 Tommy Castello, 11 Dion Berryman, 10 Carlo Canna, 9 Guglielmo Palazzani, 8 Federico Ruzza, 7 Johan Meyer, 6 Derick Minnie, 5 Gideon Koegelenberg, 4 Quintin Geldenhuys, 3 Dario Chistolini, 2 Tommaso D'Apice, 1 Bruno Postiglioni.
Replacements: 16 Carlo Festuccia, 17 Guillermo Roan, 18 Pietro Ceccarelli, 19 Valerio Bernabo, 20 Josh Furno, 21 Carlo Engelbrecht, 22 Matteo Pratichetti, 23 Giambattista Venditti.
Toulouse: 15 Alexis Palisson, 14 Yoann Huget, 13 Florian Fritz, 12 Gaël Fickou, 11 Arthur Bonneval, 10 Jean-Marc Doussain, 9 Sébastien Bezy, 8 Gillian Galan, 7 Francois Cros, 6 Joe Tekori, 5 Edwin Maka, 4 Richie Gray, 3 Dorian Aldegheri, 2 Julien Marchand, 1 Cyril Baille.
Replacements: 16 Christopher Tolofua, 17 Gurthrö Steenkamp, 18 Census Johnston, 19 Thierry Dusautoir, 20 Gregory Lamboley, 21 Luke McAlister, 22 Toby Flood, 23 Paul Perez.
Referee: Ian Davies (Wales)
Assistant referees: Simon Rees (Wales), Jon Hardy (Wales)
TMO: Neil Hennessy (Wales)
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