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I quarti di finale di Heineken Cup si chiuderanno domenica alle 17
Toulon have already qualified for the last eight of the Heineken Cup but they travel to Montpellier looking to secure a home draw in the quarter-finals and the chance of knocking out their French rivals.
The French Top 14 leaders secured their Heineken Cup quarter-final place with their comfortable bonus point 45-25 victory over the Cardiff Blues at the Stade Felix Mayol.
Jonny Wilkinson and his team-mates are one of only three unbeaten sides left in this season’s Heineken Cup, along with ASM Clermont Auvergne and Harlequins, and won’t want to surrender that record.
Toulon have reached their second quarter-final in only their second season of Heineken Cup rugby and have already proved their glittering squad is becoming a major force in Europe.
Montpellier, who are in only their second season of Heineken Cup rugby, will still have their sights set on a quarter-finals place as one of the two best runners-up in this season’s tournament.
Toulon recorded a comfortable 37-6 home victory in the Pool opener against Montpellier but know they face a completely different task at the Stade Yves du Manoir.
Both sides come into this final game with two impressive victories under their belts, with Toulon beating the Cardiff Blues 45-25 in the last round and Montpellier beating Sale Sharks 27-6.
Match Facts
- Montpellier have won their last four Heineken Cup matches. Their only defeat in the tournament this season was 16-37 in Toulon in Round 1.
- The only other French club to have won at Montpellier in ERC competitions was ASM Clermont Avuergne (18-16) at the old Stade Paul Sabathe in the 1997/98 European Conference.
- Toulon have won all five Heineken Cup games this season – their only ERC loss in their last 11 games was 18-21 to Biarritz in last season’s Amlin Challenge Cup final at the Twickenham Stoop.
- Toulon have won two of their last three away games against French clubs in ERC competition.
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Toulon are the top metre-makers in the Heineken Cup, averaging 584m per match.
Retrouvez les moments forts de la qualification de Montpellier! Partagez vos commentaires sur @ercrugby_france #HCup Restez connecté sur ERC TV et retrouvez la série "En route pour les quarts" sur chacun des huit clubs - 05/04/2013 09:55
Toulon had already qualified for the Heineken Cup quarter-finals but this 23-3 defeat by Montpellier saw their fellow French side in the Pool also qualify for the knock-out stages as one of the two best runners up.
Montpellier, who are in only their second season of Heineken Cup rugby, inflicted Toulon’s first defeat in Europe this season with this impressive victory at the Stade Yves du Manoir.
Toulon had reached their second quarter-final in only their second season of Heineken Cup rugby before this game, but will have to wait to see if they get the all-important home draw after failing to get a losing bonus point.
Montpellier were without their injured skipper Fulgence Ouedraogo, and produced a performance full of emotion following the death of their forwards coach, Eric Bechu, on Tuesday.
Toulon, the current Top 14 leaders, had the luxury of leaving international stars Gethin Jenkins, Carl Hayman, Mathieu Bastareaud, Juan-Martin Fernandez Lobbe and Joe van Niekerk on their bench.
But Jonny Wilkinson and his Toulon side surrendered their unbeaten Pool record to their French rivals to leave ASM Clermont Auvergne and Harlequins as the only unbeaten sides in the tournament.
Centre Thomas Combezou crossed for the game’s first try when a superb flat-pass by fly-half Francois Trinh-duc left Toulon’s defence flat-footed to make it 7-3 to Montpellier.
Scrum-half Benoit Paillaugue stretched the home side’s lead with three penalties before Toulon’s full-back Delon Armitage was sin-binned for a dangerous tackle just before the break.
Toulon were down to 14-men when they went in 16-3 behind at half-time and things went from bad to worse when scrum-half Paillaugue scored his side’s second try at the start of the first-half to secure the win for Montpellier.
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