London Irish became the first side to beat Toulouse in Europe that season with a well-deserved 32-29 win at the Madejski Stadium in January 2003.

Tries from right-wing Paul Sackey and prop Mike Worsley, plus 17 points from the boot of fly-half Barry Everitt, accounted for the French side.

The Exiles grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck and their early pressure paid off when Worsley crashed in from close range.

Everitt converted before adding two first half penalties.

It was left to the boot of scrum-half Jean-Baptiste Elissalde to keep Toulouse in touch and his fourth penalty enabled the French side to cut the deficit to one point.

But two minutes later and deep into first-half injury time, Paul Sackey crossed for Irish to give them an 18-12 lead at the break.

Two more penalties from Everitt, with one from Elissalde in between, saw Irish stretch their lead to 21-15 before Sackey struck again in the 64th minute. Taking a pass from Worsley, he raced away to dive over in the right-hand corner.

Toulouse responded with two tries in the latter stages but it was not enough and Irish held on to secure a memorable win.

Scorers: London Irish: Tries: Sackey (2), Worsley; Conversions: Everitt, Penalties: Everitt (5); Toulouse: Tries: Michalak, Clerc; Conversions: Elissalde (2); Penalties: Elissalde (5)

London Irish

15 Mapletoft, 14 Sackey, 13 Burrows, 12 Venter, 11 Barrett, 10 Everitt 9 Martens, 1 Worsley, 2 Drotske, 3 Hardwick, 4 Delaney, 5 Casey, 6 Gustard, 7 Dawson, 8 Sheasby

Toulouse

15 Jean-Jean, 14 Ntamack, 13 Desbrosse, 12 Jauzion, 11 Garbajosa, 10 Michalak,9 Elissalde, 1 Lecouls, 2 Servat, 3 Poux,4 Lamboley, 5 Pelous, 6 Brennan, 7 Maka, 8 Labit

 

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