Newport’s Heineken adventure ended in deluge of points at the hands of super French side Toulouse who ran out 70-18 winners.
Despite the brave words of coach Leigh Jones Newport knew in their heart of hearts that they had an almost insurmountable task on their hands against Toulouse who have dominated Pool Five.
Coach Jones was in defiant mood before the game claiming: ‘Our side is quality and if we play like we did against Cardiff on new Year’s Day nobody can stop us.’
But he was made to eat his brash words as Toulouse began dismantling his side right from the start.
Tries flowed in from all quarters of the field as Newport were run ragged and made to look third-raters against a side who had won all their pool games.
In the face of overwhelming attacks the only bright spot for the Welsh side was the goalkicking of Jason Strange and two tries in the last 15 minutes.
Strange popped over two penalties as the only answer to Toulouse as they roared over the 50-points mark.
And it was only when Toulouse eased off thr gas that Newport could find their way back into the game and breached the home line twice.
Back rower Andrew Powell scored their first try and in the dying moments All Blacks and Samoan scrum-half Ofisa Tonu’u darted over with Strange converting the first one.
Toulouse ran in 10 tries with two each for full back Xavier Garbajosa and winger Vincent Clerc with scrum-half Jean-Baptiste Elissalde landing seven conversions and two penalties.
