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Heineken Cup holders RC Toulon will be looking to get their title aspirations back on track when they take on Exeter Chiefs at Sandy Park early on Saturday afternoon. - 05/12/2013 23:41
Heineken Cup holders RC Toulon will be looking to get their title aspirations back on track when they take on Exeter Chiefs at Sandy Park early on Saturday afternoon.
Toulon won Europe’s greatest prize with victory over ASM Clermont Auvergne in Dublin in May and began their defence with a bonus-point win against Glasgow Warriors at the Stade Felix Mayol. But they were beaten by Cardiff Blues in the shock result of Round 2 last month and now find themselves sitting second in Pool 2, with the Chiefs out in front.
Exeter started their second Heineken Cup campaign in similar fashion to Toulon as they put six tries past the Blues in Devon, but they then lost out to Glasgow Warriors at Scotstoun. They picked up a losing bonus point north of the border, though, and that result means they lead the standings with six points – the same number as Toulon – with Glasgow and the Blues both on five.
The English outfit head back into the Heineken Cup on a losing streak, having been beaten in their last three domestic outings. Rob Baxter’s men were on the wrong end of close scorelines at Bath and at home to Saracens in the Aviva Premiership over the past fortnight, having also suffered a heavy reverse to Bath in the LV= Cup.
But those defeats followed a hat-trick of wins over Worcester, Sale and Harlequins and England’s newest Heineken Cup club will still be confident of recording the most-famous success in their history against Jonny Wilkinson and co. They ran ASM Clermont Auvergne close for much of last year’s encounter with the beaten finalists on home soil and came agonisingly close to drawing with Leinster in Dublin in the same season, so they know they can trouble the big boys.
Toulon were surprisingly hammered 23-0 by Stade Francais in their most recent outing last weekend but they are still just four points off the pace in the Top 14. They beat both Perpignan and Bordeaux-Begles after narrowly losing to Toulouse immediately after the last round of European action.
Bernard Laporte’s star-studded side have won just once on the road all season, though, with their solitary success coming at struggling Biarritz Olympique in early September. As well as losing to Toulouse, the Blues and Stade, Toulon have tasted defeat at Grenoble, Castres Olympique and Oyonnax and drawn with Montpellier.
If Exeter Chiefs are to remain in quarter-final contention then they will have to do something no other side has managed in the Heineken Cup by winning at Stade Felix Mayol. - 12/12/2013 23:37
Toulon secured a magnificent seventh straight Heineken Cup victory over English opposition with a hard-fought win over Exeter Chiefs to move top of Pool 2.
Florian Fresia’s fifth minute score was the only try of the game as the defending champions edged out a battle of attrition at Sandy Park.
Exeter pushed the French stars to the limit and were rewarded for their efforts with a losing bonus-point, but Toulon fly-half Jonny Wilkinson, who suffered a difficult afternoon with the boot, sealed the success as the visitors go to the summit of the pool, one point above rivals Cardiff Blues on ten points.
Toulon had won all of their previous six meetings against English teams, but the home side got off to a flying start when Gareth Steenson put the Aviva Premiership side ahead after just three minutes.
Yet falling behind so early was not such a major problem for the defending champions, who hit back within two minutes at Sandy Park. The star-studded outfit displayed slick hands before All Black lock Ali Williams assisted prop Fresia with a simple touchdown in the right corner.
Surprisingly, Wilkinson missed the conversion to leave Toulon with a 5-3 advantage in an all-action opening. But the England fly-half made no mistake in the tenth minute to nudge the French side five points clear. Yet it was a rare successful kick from Wilkinson on a below-par afternoon with the boot as he scored with only two of his six efforts at the posts.
Steenson reduced the deficit back to two points with his second penalty before Exeter’s No10 was forced off after 20 minutes through injury. Young Henry Slade was handed the task of lining up against Wilkinson and the 20-year-old fired Exeter ahead in the 35th minute from the far touchline.
Bryan Habana, who was making his Heineken Cup debut, had limited chance to shine and the South African winger pulled his hamstring as he attempted to surge through for a try.
Exeter held a slender one-point lead at half-time, but that should have been very different in the second period as Wilkinson missed three further kicks from long-range.
In the end, the World Cup winner handed over the kicking duties to Australia’s Matt Giteau and he duly delivered with a 65th minute penalty to edge Toulon back in front. Then Wilkinson got in on the act with a trademark drop-goal to seal the win with just six minutes remaining.
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