Toulouse hold off Exeter, Northampton save English Champions Cup blushes

SUNDAY WRAP: Record six-time winners Toulouse survived an early red card to edge Exeter 43-40 in the Champions Cup on Sunday before Northampton beat Cardiff 28-12 to end the English wait for a win on the opening weekend of the competition.

After Gloucester drew Friday’s opening match against double-defending champions Bordeaux-Begles, Prem sides had tasted only defeat with Sale, Saracens, Bath and Bristol all losing on Saturday.

And things did not improve early on Sunday as Toulouse overcame prop Rodrigue Neti’s dismissal after just 15 minutes for a high tackle to avoid a first home defeat in the competition since 2022, thanks to a double from youngster Matias Remue.

Henry Slade missed a late penalty, which would have secured a draw, as the 2020 champions were unable to claim England’s first win of an emotional opening weekend to the competition, despite leading by two points at the break.

“When you see how the game panned out, at half-time we would have signed up for a victory,” Toulouse captain Antoine Dupont told reporters.

“It’s the tragic part of the sport, the role of a kicker, he missed the most important kick,” Dupont added of Slade’s error.

A minute’s silence was held before kick-off at Le Stadium, and at all games over the weekend, in memory of the Lions’ lock Hyron Andrews, who was found in cardiac arrest at the team hotel the day before his side’s game at La Rochelle on Saturday.

Toulouse were without their first-choice locks Emmanuel Meafou and Thibaud Flament due to injury, while hooker Julien Marchand and fullback Thomas Ramos were also missing.

After a tight first half, the Chiefs deservedly led 26-24 after Neti was sent off for a shoulder hit on the visitors’ back-rower Ross Vintcent.

The French side ended the opening 40 minutes down to 13 men after winger Teddy Thomas was yellow-carded for a deliberate knock-on.

Italy scrumhalf Stephen Varney was on fire for Chiefs, scoring a try and setting up another for clinical winger Zack Wimbush.

With a quarter of an hour left, Chiefs still led and a first English win was in sight, with a 40-38 advantage thanks to efforts from centre Will Butt and Wimbush’s third of the proceedings.

Top 14 leaders Toulouse regained the lead with 12 minutes to play as Belgium fullback Remue crossed a second time, before experienced centre Slade missed his 82nd-minute penalty.

‘Just one weekend’

Later, 2025 runners-up Northampton succeeded where seven English sides had failed by claiming a win as efforts from James Pater, Toby Thame, George Hendy and Fraser Dingwall were enough to overcome Cardiff.

Earlier, Top 14 high-flyers Pau beat Prem outfit Leicester 41-17 as Portugal centre Rodrigo Marta crossed twice for the hosts to continue his impressive start to the season.

The home side ran in five tries, courtesy of Marta, Jon Zabala, Aaron Grandidier-Nkanang and Fabien Brau-Boirie, while flyhalf Axel Desperes racked up 16 points with the boot.

“The best English teams and French teams go toe-to-toe,” Tigers head coach Geoff Parling told reporters.

“It’s just one weekend, we’ll see what it’s like at the end of the competition,” he added.

While England managed only one win out of eight and France finished with a mixed bag of four wins and three defeats, all three Irish provinces succeeded on Saturday.

See below for Sunday’s scores and scorers!

Section Paloise 41-17v Leicester Tigers

The scorers:

For Section Paloise:
Tries: Marta 2, Zabala, Grandidier Nkanang, Brau-Boirie
Cons: Desperes 5
Pens: Desperes 2

For Leicester:
Tries: Chessum, Van der Flier
Cons: Searle 2
Pen: Searle

Teams:

Section Paloise: 15 Theo Attissogbe, 14 Clement Laporte, 13 Rodrigo Marta, 12 Fabien Brau-Boirie, 11 Aaron Grandidier Nkanang, 10 Axel Desperes, 9 Thomas Souverbie, 8 Bastien Vergnes-Taillefer, 7 Loic Credoz, 6 Sacha Zegueur, 5 Mickael Capelli, 4 Thomas Jolmes, 3 Jon Zabala, 2 Youri Delhommel, 1 Alexandre Etchebehere.
Replacements: 16 Yon Caperaa, 17 Hugo Parrou, 18 Guram Papidze, 19 Remi Picquette, 20 Santiago Grondona, 21 Facundo Isa, 22 Gonzalo Garcia, 23 Quentin Valentino.

Leicester Tigers: 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Adam Radwan, 13 Will Wand, 12 Orlando Bailey, 11 Ollie Hassell-Collins, 10 Billy Searle, 9 Tom Whiteley, 8 Olly Cracknell, 7 Joaquin Moro, 6 Aaron Wainwright, 5 Ollie Chessum (captain), 4 Cameron Henderson, 3 Joel Sclavi, 2 Jamie Blamire, 1 Archie van der Flier.
Replacements: 16 Sam Moli, 17 Mako Vunipola, 18 Will Hurd, 19 James Thompson, 20 Finn Carnduff, 21 Jack van Poortvliet, 22 Joseph Woodward, 23 Gabriel Hamer-Webb.

Referee: Eoghan Cross (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Robbie Jenkinson (Ireland), Andrew Cole (Ireland)
TMO: Olly Hodges (Ireland)

Stade Toulousain 43-40 Exeter Chiefs

The scorers:

For Stade Toulousain:
Tries: Capuozzo, Penalty Try, Brennan, Thomas, Remue 2, R Ntamack
Cons: R Ntamack 3

For Exeter Chiefs:
Tries: Wimbush 3, Yeandle, Varney, Butt
Cons: Slade 5

Teams:

Stade Toulousain: 15 Matias Remue, 14 Teddy Thomas, 13 Kalvin Gourgues, 12 Santiago Chocobares, 11 Ange Capuozzo, 10 Romain Ntamack, 9 Antoine Dupont (captain), 8 Théo Ntamack, 7 Efrain Elias, 6 François Cros, 5 Joel Merkler, 4 Joshua Brennan, 3 Dorian Aldegheri, 2 Thomas Lacombre, 1 Rodrigue Neti.
Replacements: 16 Peato Mauvaka, 17 Benjamin Bertrand, 18 Georges-Henri Colombe, 19 Romeo Bonnard Martin, 20 Anthony Jelonch, 21 Marc-Elie Kouassi, 22 Paul Graou, 23 Tommaso Menoncello.

Exeter Chiefs: 15 Sam Harris, 14 Zack Wimbush, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Will Butt, 11 Tom Wyatt, 10 Harvey Skinner, 9 Stephen Varney, 8 Greg Fisilau, 7 Ross Vintcent, 6 Ethan Roots, 5 Dafydd Jenkins (captain), 4 Tom Hooper, 3 Josh Iosefa-Scott, 2 Jack Yeandle, 1 Will Goodrick-Clarke.
Replacements: 16 Louie Gulley, 17 Ethan Burger, 18 Jimmy Roots, 19 Harry Wilson, 20 Kane James, 21 Sam Wolstenholme, 22 Will Haydon-Wood, 23 Ben Hammersley.

Referee: Hollie Davidson (Scotland)
Assistant referees: Rob McDowell (Scotland), Finlay Brown (Scotland)
TMO: Dave Sutherland (Scotland)

Northampton Saints 28-12 Cardiff

The scorers:

For Northampton Saints:
Tries: Pater, Thame, Hendy, Dingwall
Cons: Belleau 3, Pater

For Cardiff:
Tries: Millard, Grady
Con: Evans

Teams:

Northampton Saints: 15 James Pater, 14 Ollie Sleightholme, 13 Rory Hutchinson, 12 Toby Thame, 11 George Hendy, 10 Anthony Belleau, 9 Alex Mitchell, 8 Callum Chick (captain), 7 Josh Taylor, 6 Josh Kemeny, 5 JJ Van Der Mescht, 4 Tom Lockett, 3 Cleopas Kundiona, 2 Robbie Smith, 1 Danilo Fischetti.
Replacements: 16 Curtis Langdon, 17 Jordan Els, 18 Ion Neculai, 19 Ed Prowse, 20 Charlie Ulcoq, 21 Archie McParland, 22 Fin Smith, 23 Fraser Dingwall.

Cardiff: 15 Matty Young, 14 Mason Grady, 13 Harri Millard, 12 Steff Emanuel, 11 Tom Bowen, 10 Jarrod Evans, 9 Aled Davies, 8 Taulupe Faletau, 7 Dan Thomas, 6 Semisi Paea, 5 Rory Thornton, 4 Tom Manz, 3 Sam Wainwright, 2 Dafydd Hughes (captain), 1 Danny Southworth.
Replacements: 16 Evan Lloyd, 17 Rhys Barratt, 18 Joe Cowell, 19 Josh McNally, 20 Lucas de la Rua, 21 Johan Mulder, 22 Callum Sheedy, 23 Josh Adams.

Referee: Jeremy Rozier (France)
Assistant referees: Thomas Charabas (France), Cyrille Boulay (France)
TMO: Julien Castaignede (France)