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Enorme choc entre triples champions d'Europe en difficulté dans cette poule 5. La situation est moins grave et désespérée pour le RCT que pour le Leinster. Sauf en cas de première défaite à domicile dans la compétition. - 10/12/2015 15:20
Reigning champions Toulon will be looking to avoid back-to-back Champions Cup defeats for the first time since 2011 when they welcome Leinster to the Stade Felix Mayol.
The three-time winners, who made history by becoming the first team to lift the Champions Cup three years running, have only once lost consecutive games in the competition.
But after their 32-6 thumping at the hands of Wasps in the last round they will need to produce a much better performance to ensure they get their title defence back on track.
Toulon responded in some style since the Wasps defeat with big wins away at Clermont (35-9) and home to Agen (53-23) in the Top 14, scoring an incredible 11 tries in those two fixtures.
After the postponement of one of their fixtures in pool five following the terror attacks in Paris, the holders are bottom of their group without a single point.
Leinster will be desperate for revenge over Toulon having lost 25-20 to the French giants at the semi-final stage of last year’s competition. The defeat came a year after the Irish province had lost 29-14 to Toulon in the quarter-final of the competition in the 2013/14 campaign.
Those two fixtures are the only times the two clubs have met in the competition and Toulon’s record against Irish opponents is pretty formidable, having won their last six matches by an average margin of 15 points.
Despite only being the third round of the competition Leinster will know it’s make-or-break for their campaign after two defeats in the opening two rounds.
The three-time winners have looked off the pace in this year’s competition and another defeat could spell the end of their hopes of reaching the knock-out stages.
Their cause has not been helped by injuries and it looks as though influential flanker Sean O’Brien is unlikely to play as he prepares to see a specialist for an inner-ear problem and he is still to complete return-to-play protocols for a head injury.
Match Facts
- These teams have faced each other twice before with Toulon taking the spoils on both occasions, although they’ve never clashed before in the pool stage.
- Toulon have played 35 matches in the Champions Cup and lost consecutive games only once, however after defeat to Wasps last time out they will be aiming to avoid back-to-back defeats for the first time since 2011.
- Toulon have won their last six matches against Irish opponents in the Champions Cup with those victories coming by an average margin of 15 points.
- Leinster have suffered three consecutive losses in the Champions Cup but have never lost four in a row in their previous 138 games in the competition.
- Leinster have won four of their last six matches against French teams in the Champions Cup though their two losses in that run have both been against Toulon.
Reigning champions RC Toulon got back to winning ways in the Champions Cup thanks to two tries from England back row man Steffon Armitage as they condemned another triple winner, Leinster, to a third successive loss with a 24-9 victory at Stade Mayol.
Reigning champions RC Toulon got back to winning ways in the Champions Cup thanks to two tries from England back row man Steffon Armitage as they condemned another triple winner, Leinster, to a third successive loss with a 24-9 victory at Stade Mayol.
The home side had been put to the sword by Wasps at the Ricoh Arena in the opening game of their latest defence of the title, but they extended their unbeaten home record to 16 games in the tournament with a hard-fought victory.
Leinster arrived knowing that a third consecutive win in Pool 1 would end any hopes of reaching the last eight and they didn’t help themselves by having three forwards sent to the sin-bin. Steffon Armitage scored both tries for the home side from driving line-outs.
The home side, chasing a fourth successive title, paraded their latest big name signing, All Black World Cup winner Ma’a Nonu, for the first time in Europe and they were looking to pick themselves up from their heavy defeat by Wasps in Coventry in Round 2.
The visitors were given the perfect start when former Saracens and England prop Matt Stevens collapsed the first scrum and Jonny Sexton hit the target from near the half-way line after only three minutes.
Early indiscretions by the champions allowed Leinster to build an advantage and Sexton doubled the lead with is second penalty in the sixth penalty after the home side had gone over the top at a ruck. But if the signs were encouraging for Leo Cullen’s side, they got a reminder of Toulon’s power 10 minute into the game.
Having ignored a kickable penalty shot, and instead kicked into the right corner, they turned a line-out take by Samu Manoa into an unstoppable driving maul which resulted in Steffon Armitage crossing for a try which scrum half Eric Escande improved.
Escande then kicked a penalty to make it 10-6, but Seton replied to make it a one point game at the end of the first half. Leinster survived 10 minutes without prop Cian Healy, who was sent to the sin-bin for a reckless challenge on Guilhem Guirado at a ruck, but it was a different story when Devin Toner followed him to the touchline six minutes into the second half.
This time Escande was able to add two more penalties to his tally and by the time the towering Ireland lock returned the home side had moved into a 16-9 lead. There was one more penalty from the boot of the scrum half in the 67th minute which cruelly took away from the visitors any hopes of salvaging a losing bonus point.
Replacement lock Tom Denton became the third Leinster forward to be shown a yellow card and no sooner had he gone off than Toulon scored another driving line-out try from Steffon Armitage.
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