Toulouse put to bed their painful memories of last season's Twickenham defeat by beating Stade Francais after extra-time in the Heineken Cup Final at Murrayfield this afternoon.
It was a historic third European triumph for last season's beaten finalists, although in truth, the game was bitterly disappointing as a spectacle, as both sides struggled to come to terms with the pressure of the occasion.
Fly-half Frederic Michalak was the hero for Toulouse, kicking a penalty in the last minute of normal time to level the scores, before adding another penalty and a dropped goal in extra-time for good measure.
Neither side was able to string together any extended passages of possession, and the two sets of forwards seemed intent on slowing the ball down at every possible occasion.
But Toulouse deserved their win, as they gradually gained in confidence, completely dominating the extra-time period - when they went ahead for the first time in the game.
Toulouse had almost had the perfect start to the game when they worked their way down field from the kick off and Michalak spotted Gareth Thomas in space on the left.
The fly-half produced a delightfully weighted cross-kick which Thomas gathered and set off for the corner.
The Wales captain looked inside as the Stade Francais defence covered across, but he was unable to get his pass away to the supporting French international full-back Clement Poitrenaud and the chance was lost.
Both sides looked nervous, particularly in the three-quarters, and Toulouse resorted to a series of up and unders rather than allowing their much-vaunted backline the opportunity to flourish.
Stade scored the first points of the game, with penalties in the 10th and 14th minutes from stand-off David Skrela - who was otherwise struggling with his kicking game from hand.
Toulouse replied through the boot of Jean-Baptiste Elissalde, before Skrela kicked his third penalty of day when Toulouse openside Finau Maka was penalised for breaking his bind at the scrum.
Elissalde narrowed the gap to three points in the 34th minute after Stade Francais were penalised at the breakdown by referee Chris White.
Seconds before the half-time break Toulouse were penalised at the ruck and Skrela punished them with a fine touchline effort to make the score 12-6 to Stade at the break.
The Toulouse cause took a heavy blow both physically and psychologically when their captain Fabien Pelous had to be helped from the field minutes after the break with what appeared to be a nasty leg injury.
Toulouse refused to be bowed by their captain's departure however, and Elissalde reduced the deficit to just three points after breaks by Yannick Jauzion and Vincent Clerc set up good field position, only for Stade to kill the ball yet again at the breakdown.
The winners continued to struggle to convert their glut of possession into a try, as Stade's forwards disrupted the ball, and subsequently the flow of the game.
As the game moved into the closing stages, Stade managed to string together a couple of attacks, with Christophe Dominici influential.
But with one minute of normal time remaining Finau Maka made a storming run deep into the Stade 22 and set up a superb try scoring opportunity. However, in keeping with the rest of the game, Stade encroached at the ruck and conceded a penalty.
Michalak stepped up and calmly slotted the penalty from in front of the posts to send the game into extra time.
Toulouse were quickly into their stride in extra time and Michalak put them in front for the first time in the game two minutes into the first period after Stade were offside in the midfield.
Skrela had a chance to level proceedings in the 6th minute but he missed a relatively kickable chance as nerves began to set in.
Toulouse struck early in the second period, and again it was that man Michalak. The Toulouse forwards moved the ball up the field allowing Michalak to drop deep into the pocket and drop a sublime goal from 35 metres.
