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Your support makes all the difference.Thomas Castaignede last night placed himself in the world's shop window by declaring his availability for negotiations over his club rugby future.
The 21-year-old Toulouse centre, who rose above the mayhem that marred the French champion's Heineken Cup Pool D victory at Les Sept-Denires on Saturday, insists his studies at Toulouse University for his chemical engineering degree remain his top priority.
But he alerted British rugby's big spenders, not to forget those in the southern hemisphere, that come the completion of his five-year degree next summer, he is open to offers. An 18-point contribution from Castaignede, including the first of Toulouse's four tries, underpinned their victory in a repeat of last season's final that puts the Heineken Cup holders firmly in charge of their group.
"There is no better club in France than Toulouse and we want to make sure we again prove we are the best team in Europe," Castaignede said. "I have to finish my studies but then I want to discover new things, and it would be a great experience to play in either England or Wales.
"Cardiff have phoned me twice but it went no further, and I have had contact with New Zealand, though I am not prepared to mention which English clubs have talked to me."
The queue for the services of a player with all the talents to establish himself as the leading centre in the world game will certainly lengthen after this declaration of his "need to have new rugby experiences", but for the present he is intent on helping Toulouse retain their European crown.
They took a giant step towards topping the pool, and so clinching home advantage in the quarter-finals, with Saturday's win, and they managed that despite the crazy antics of their hooker Patrick Soula, which reduced them to 14 men for the final 57 minutes. Soula will miss the remaining group matches, against Wasps and Munster, after being handed a 21-day ban following his sending-off for kicking the Cardiff captain Hemi Taylor just nine minutes after being shown the yellow card by the referee, Ray Megson, for a similar offence on Justin Thomas.
When Toulouse concentrated on more legitimate means of overpowering Cardiff, they did it with panache, with the wings David Berty and Emile Ntamack scoring three second-half tries between them.
Toulouse: Tries Berty 2, Castaignede, Ntamack; Conversions Castaignede 2; Penalties Castaignede 2; Drop goals Castaignede, Deylaud. Cardiff: Try Jones; Penalties Jarvis 5.
Toulouse: S Ougier; E Ntamack (capt), M Marfaing, T Castaignede, D Berty; C Deylaud, J Tilloles; C Califano, P Soula, J-L Jordana, H Miorin, F Belot, D Lacroix (C Guiter, 70), S Dispagne, H Manent.
Cardiff: J Thomas; S Hill, M Hall, G Jones, N Walker; L Jarvis, R Howley; L Mustoe (P Booth, 57), J Humphreys (P Young, 79), D Young, J Wakeford, D Jones, H Taylor (capt), E Lewis, M Bennett (J Ringer, 70).
Referee: R Megson (Scotland).
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