Toulouse play rugby from the gods to demolish Bristol

The Top 14 leaders might have only scraped into the knockout stages, after defeats at both Glasgow and Saracens but, in this scintillating form, in front of an almost manically enraptured home support, who could possibly bet against them adding a seventh European title to their six previous stars? Away from their spiritual home at the Stade Ernest-Wallon, at the Ville Rose’s football stadium, nicknamed “petit Wembley” by the locals, Toulouse played with a joie de vivre which should be the envy of all sides worldwide. Thomas Ramos broke English hearts last month in the blue of France, but here the full-back was again, in the rouge et noir of Toulouse, vanquishing anglophones left, right, and centre.

Ramos’s kicking off the tee was exemplary - missing, just twice, for the first time in the Champions Cup this season - but as a secondary playmaker, outside of Romain Ntamack, he was immense. It meant that the likes of Teddy Thomas, Matthis Lebel and Kalvin Gourgues – all scoring twice – ran riot out wide, an area in which Bristol thought they might have had the ascendancy given their lethal trio of Louis Rees-Zammit, Gabriel Ibitoye, and Kalaveti Ravouvou. In the Toulousain sunset, those Bears were left chasing shadows.

Trailing by 33 points, Bristol’s challenge was over before half-time, in what finished as their seventh straight loss in all competitions. Bristol, who have not won in France in the top-tier European competition since 2003, are known as the Prem’s free-wheelers but, in the Concorde Derby - both these two cities played an integral role in the conception of the airliner - it was Toulouse who hit the speed of sound. The Bears, regrettably, were deafened by it.

Paralysed, even. Toulouse remain an irrepressible force when they play at home in Europe - Matthieu Rondel/Getty Images By the time Toulouse were running in their sixth try before the interval, Bristol had descended from fire to farce. The early optimism whipped up by Fitz Harding’s opener had evaporated as the visitors lost their attacking shape and started to lose their accuracy and tempo - and tempers with it.