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RC Toulon may have already booked their place in the Champions Cup quarter-finals but are well aware of the importance of securing home advantage in the last eight. - 22/01/2015 10:08
RC Toulon may have already booked their place in the Champions Cup quarter-finals but are well aware of the importance of securing home advantage in the last eight.
The defending champions continued their remarkable feat of never having failed to reach the knock-out stage of the Champions Cup.
And having put Ulster to the sword 60-22, they will be targeting maximum points against Scarlets to ensure they return to their Stade Felix Mayol fortress for the next stage.
Director of rugby Bernard Laporte said: “Victory last week was the goal but the bonus was important to hope to play a quarter-final at home.
“That has yet to be decided but we are in a good mood. As I told the players, we will now prepare and enjoy the game in Llanelli.”
Toulon suffered the only defeat of the campaign so far on their last away game – at Leicester – and endured mixed results in Wales last season.
They crashed to defeat at Cardiff Blues in the 2013/14 tournament but returned to Wales seven months later to lift the Champions Cup trophy in the Millennium Stadium final.
They face a Scarlets side fighting to avoid bottom place in Pool 3 and have already accounted for both group rivals Leicester and Ulster at Parc Y Scarlets.
Head coach Pivac says that he will be hoping to see his side fire on all cylinders as they did at the Stade Felix Mayol back in October in the opening round of the competition.
He said: “At the time that was a very good performance – our best away performance of the season against a top side in France. They were extreme conditions too and very tough on everyone.
“If we can have a defensive effort like that this Saturday we’ll be very happy. We’ll need to defend well again this weekend. We want to play a bit of rugby this weekend.
“We want to play our part in what will hopefully be a spectacular game of footy.”
Match Facts
- The reigning champions are the first team to have qualified for the quarter finals this season, as they cannot be caught by any other team in their group.
- Scarlets are winless in their last three home games against French opponents (L2 D1), the last time they suffered this was in 2004 – 2006.
- Steffon Armitage scored more tries against Ulster last weekend (3) than he had previously managed in any single season of European rugby, taking his tally to four for the season.
- RC Toulon have made the most carries of any team in the Champions Cup, averaging 128 per game, with Steffon Armitage (62) making the most carries of any Toulon player.
Une dernière victoire solide des doubles champions d'Europe sur la pelouse des Scarlets (26-3) leur assure définitivement de joueur un nouveau quart de finale à Mayol en avril prochain. - 24/01/2015 20:08
Reigning champions RC Toulon secured a home Champions Cup quarter-final with a comfortable 26-3 triumph at the Scarlets.
The star-studded French side bullied their way into an early lead and never looked in danger of letting it slip in West Wales.
They showed glimpses of their class as an early Mathieu Bastareaud and three Leigh Halfpenny kicks had the game in the bag before Bryan Habana streaked over in the second-half. Toulon sit second in the Champions Cup seeding heading into the final day of pool action.
The back-to-back European champions showed exactly why they hold the title after just four minutes when outside-half Nicolas Sanchez burst clear from a midfield scrum. He found Matemini Masoe on the charge and he was stopped just short by a scrambling John Barclay tackle. But their back-row were on the scene like a flash to clear the path for Bastareaud to crash over for the first score.
Halfpenny added another two penalties before Sanchez added an opportunistic drop-goal from 30 metres out to give Toulon a 16-point advantage.
Steve Shingler got three points back from the boot after winning a penalty himself, but that was cancelled out by another Halfpenny penalty to give Toulon a 19-3 half-time lead. But just as they did last week at Leicester, the Scarlets came out with attacking intent.
Regan King’s pick-up and pass to Rhys Priestland set the Welsh region off into a rare foray into enemy territory. But Wayne Barnes’ whistle blew and Toulon once again marched into the Scarlets half. They won another penalty but Halfpenny proved he was human when his penalty from half-way fell just short.
The French heavyweights then set about decimating the depleted Scarlets pack – with devastating effect. Wayne Pivac’s men were awarded a scrum in their own 22, but were brushed aside by the star-studded front-five.
The ball popped out to fly-half Sanchez and he found Habana, who cut a devastating angle to leave three covering defenders in his wake on the way to the line. Halfpenny found his golden touch once more to convert and give his side an unassailable 26-3 lead with half-an-hour to play.
Scarlets fought back into Toulon’s half but could not find the breakthrough moment.
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