Toulouse 18 Bath 16: Skrela's late show sinks Bath

They named the man of the match three minutes too early after the 22-year-old Nick Abendanon had scored a try which seemed to have broken another large clutch of French rugby hearts. Despite the missed conversion from Butch James, it put Bath a point ahead of famed Toulouse with just two minutes to go.

But a man called David Skrela, whose father, Jean-Claude, another beloved Toulousain, also swelled French rugby hearts, was to destroy the hopes that a west-country outfit could emulate a north-western one and take a second French rugby scalp in two days. It makes the achievement of Sale at Clermont-Ferrand look even more glorious.

Stade had moved this match to the circus maximus of the 35,000 capacity football stadium. With Bath topping the English Premiership and Toulouse lying second in the Top 14, this was billed as the crunch match of the opening weekend of the Heineken Cup.

Bath started in serious mood and played the first 10 minutes in Toulouse territory, drawing first blood through a Butch James penalty. Their front row had the Toulousain trio fighting for parity. If the line-out was a tiny bit wobbly, the Samoan international Jonny Fa'Amatuainu was a steadying influence. "We threw everything at them today," said prop Matt Stevens. "That's what's so disappointing. We could have won it."

Having missed a sitter as his first attempt ricocheted off the right upright, Skrela made no mistake with his second, third, fourth and fifth attempts; that fifth from only a couple of metres inside the Bath half. That restored the Toulouse lead to a more comfortable four points after James had charged down a Byron Kelleher clearance behind a scrum just a few metres from his own line to touch down.

James's second penalty reduced the lead to one, leaving the final quarter of an hour on a knife edge. Skrela missed his sixth attempt soon after but his fifth success just minutes later left Bath the task of pushing up to the Toulouse 22 with less than five minutes to go. When the Toulouse front row collapsed again, three points were not enough so James, to the crowd's displeasure, punted into touch. Bath swung the line-out ball across the field and Nick Abendanon bullocked his way over the line.

It wasn't over yet. Toulouse made it back to the Bath line only for Cedric Heymans, after 80 minutes was up, to knock on the scoring pass. But the referee had spotted an infringement and Skrela coolly walked up to snatch victory with a final penalty.

"For one second we didn't concentrate and they stole our ball," said James afterwards. It made a two-point margin on the scoreboard count for four in the competition and left Bath with just a bonus point going into their match with Newport Gwent Dragons next weekend.

Scorers: Toulouse: Pens Skrela (6); Bath: Tries James, Abendanon; Pens James (2).

Toulouse: M Medard; Y Donguy, M Kunavore, Y Jauzion, C Heymans; D Skrela, B Kelleher; J-B Poux (DHuman, 48), W Servat, B Lecouls (J-B Poux, 76), F Pelous (R Millo-Chluski, 59), P Albacete, J Builhou (capt) (Y Nyanga, 64), T Dusautoir, S Sowerby.

Bath: N Abendanon; J Maddock, A Crockett, S Berne, M Banahan (M Stephenson, 60); B James, M Claassens; D Flatman (D Barnes, 40), L Mears, M Stevens (D Bell 74), J Harrison, P Short, S Hooper, M Lipman (capt), J Fa'Amatuani.

Referee: George Clancy (Ireland)

Man of the match: N Abendanon

Attendance: 31,885.

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