Sharks suffer heavy defeat against Toulouse in opening Champions Cup match

Toulouse went into the match on top form, having won their last four French Top 14 matches and eight of their last 11 games.

The Sharks, on the other hand, have struggled in the United Rugby Championship and have only won one of their six games so far.

The match could not have got off to a more difficult start for the KwaZulu-Natal side, with Ange Capuozzo crossing the whitewash for a try inside the first five minutes.

Things went from bad to worse for the Sharks as Julian Marchand added a brace of tries in the 14th and 21st minute before Kalvin Gourgues added Toulouse's fourth in just the 24th minute.

Eighth man Nick Hatton got the Sharks on the board with their first try of the game in the 26th minute but the first half belonged to the French side, who took a 28-5 lead into halftime.

The Sharks were much better after the break and pulled more points back when Ross Braude crossed the whitewash in the 49th minute.

However, Toulouse then took back control of the match and converted their dominance into points with Capouzzo completing his hat-trick with two more tries in the 63rd and 71st minutes.

Mathis Castros Ferreira (67') and Teddy Thomas (80') also scored tries as the French side ran away with proceedings.

Le Roux Malan scored a consolation try for the Sharks in the 77th minute but it did little to affect the outcome as the South African side fell to a heavy 56-19 defeat.