Ramos was ubiquitous in the Toulousain assault, offering one sumptuous offload from an audacious counter for Gourgues’s first –but Bristol often did not help themselves. Williams, often distributing beautifully, had a couple of howlers which led to two tries while Ibitoye and Rees-Zammit never quite looked comfortable in the backfield against a Dupont-Ntamack-Ramos three-pronged aerial bombardment.

Thomas added a quickfire double to a rapidly increasing scoreline, but what made it more remarkable was that it was during the period in which the hosts had been reduced to 14 players. Toulouse were in cruise control, knowing the game was over, while the Bears attempted to salvage some pride. Thankfully, the visitors managed it.

For Toulouse, with the crowd jumping to the sounds of the stadium’s sunset DJ, the victor of Bordeaux’s hosting of Leicester awaits; for the Bears, some claw-sharpening and wound-licking is required.

Match details

Scoring sequence: 0-5 Harding try, 0-7 Williams con, 5-7 Willis try, 7-7 Ramos con, 12-7 Mauvaka try, 14-7 Ramos con, 19-7 Gourgues try, 21-7 Ramos con, 26-7 Mauvaka try, 28-7 Ramos con, 33-7 Lebel try, 38-7 Gourgues try, 40-7 Ramos con, 45-7 Lebel try, 45-12 Ravouvou try, 50-12 Thomas try, 52-12 Ramos con, 57-12 Thomas try, 59-12 Ramos con, 59-17 Williams try, 59-19 Williams con, 59-24 Heward try, 59-26 Heward con.

Toulouse: T Ramos; T Thomas, K Gourgues (Kinghorn 61), P-L Barassi (Chocobares 4), M Lebel; R Ntamack, A Dupont (capt, Graou 58); D Ainu’u (Mallez 50), P Mauvaka (Lacombre 66), D Aldegheri (Merkler 50), T Flament (Brennan 58), E Meafou, F Cros, J Willis, A Jelonch (Banos 54). Sin-bin: Ntamack.

Bristol: L Rees-Zammit (Heward 61); K Ravouvou, B Janse van Rensburg (Moroni 47), J Williams, G Ibitoye; T Jordan, H Randall (Marmion 51); E Genge (Woolmore 51), G Oghre (Thacker 51), G Kloska (Lahiff 51), J Dun, J Owen, S Luatua (Taylor 41), F Harding (capt, Ivanishvili 56), B Grondona.

Referee: Gianluca Gnecchi (Italy). 

Attendance: 33,150.