Fotuali’I was one of the Welsh region’s try scorers alongside Ryan Bevington in their 30-14 defeat at Stade Ernest Wallon.
Dan Biggar and Matthew Morgan added a conversion apiece but it was not enough as a powerful Toulouse outfit ran in five tries of their own.
Fotuali’I was one of the Ospreys standout performers in France and he believes a young Ospreys side will be all the better for taking on the likes of Toulouse.
“I’m very, very proud of the effort from the boys, definitely” said the Samoan scrum half.
“Playing a side like Toulouse is always very tough, but I’m proud of the way we approached it. Everyone gave 110 per cent. We had six players playing in their first Heineken Cup match and their first game against Toulouse so I’m very proud of the effort.
“As Ospreys we don’t look for excuses. We’re here to play rugby and I thought we did go out there today with the right mind for playing rugby. We knew we had a tough task ahead of us but it was all about rolling our sleeves up.”
Despite only trailing 12-7 at the interval, the French side overwhelmed the Ospreys in the second period with No. 8 Louis Picamoles to the fore. Florian Fritz, Yanick Nyanga, Vincent Clerc, Census Johnstone and Yoann Huget all went over with Kiwi Luke McCallister kicking the rest of the points.
“We’re very disappointed we lost but the boys went out there with a bit of confidence within the group,” added Fotuali’I.
“It was tough, and I guess the scoreboard doesn’t show how close things were at times. We’ve got the next week now to rectify a few things, they’ve got to come to the Liberty now and our focus will be on trying to get the right performance and result.
“It’s very tough at places like this where there’s a big crowd and a passionate atmosphere but we try and focus on what’s happening on the field.
“It was a great effort from the entire group and a great experience for the youngsters who have come in. It’s tough here, very tough, but we’ll be a better team for this experience.
“There are young boys coming through, the future is looking bright.”
