Catalan delight in Barcelona

Perpignan turned around a half-time deficit to beat Toulon 29-25 in Saturday's first Heineken Cup quarter-final in Barcelona.

Toulon led 11-6 at the end of an error-riddled first half but, in front of a 55,000 capacity crowd at Barcelona's Olympic Stadium, the hosts turned up the heat in the second half to book their place in the final four.

USAP will now face either Northampton or Ulster in the semi-finals.

Full-back Jérôme Porical kicked 19 points while winger Adrien Plante and former England prop Perry Freshwater each touched down in the second half for les sang et or.

A try from former Wallaby flank George Smith put Toulon ahead just before the break and his skipper Joe van Niekerk scored midway through the second period of a ding dong battle. Fabien Cibray also scored a late consolation try for RCT.

Despite seeing both their locks sent to the sin-bin in the first half, ironically it would ultimately be Perpignan's superior discipline that won the day as Toulon bled penalties under pressure from the ferocious Catalan pack.

Jonny Wilkinson opened the scoring for Toulon with a long range effort after four minutes but the scorers would not be troubled again until the half-hour mark when Porical leveled matters.

In between USAP survived being reduced to fourteen men after lock Guillaume Vilacec was rather harshly sent to the sin bin for a dangerous ruck clear out when the Catalans were camped on the Toulon try-line.

Perpignan would go a man down again shortly before the break when Vilacec's second row partner Robins Tchale Watchou saw yellow for a high tackle - another harsh call it must be said.

Wilkinson put Toulon back in front with punt from the half-way line but Porical replied almost immediately to leave the sides locked at 6-6 with half-time looming large.

Smith would have the last say of the opening forty minutes however, charging down Perpignan fly-half Nicolas Laharrague before diving on the loose ball for the first try.

Perpignan started the second half at a frenetic pace. Porical reduced the gap to just two points with his third penalty as the Catalans laid siege to the Toulon try-line.

USAP moved ahead for the first time on 51 minutes when the TMO agreed that Plante had touched down in the corner.

Toulon's response came immediately after the restart however when Dean Schofield broke clear and found Van Niekerk on his inside and the former Springbok number eight cruised over to make it all square at 16-all.

Wilkinson's conversion put Toulon in front but Perpignan would dominate the final quarter.

Porical put his side back in front from the kicking tee before his pack took the game by the scruff of the neck. After a powerful five metre scrum, Guilhem Guirado charged straight over Felipe Contepomi. Freshwater was on his shoulder and barged over to give Perpignan some breathing space.

Cibray's 80th minute try came too late for RCT, who must now concentrate on making the Top 14 play-off if they want a place in the Heinken Cup next season.

Man of the Match: Tough to pick out a single man but the gong must go to the Perpignan pack. We'll go for hooker Guilhem Guirado who charged tirelessly all day.

The scorers:

For Perpignan:
Tries: Plante, Freshwater
Cons: Porical 2
Pens: Porical 5

For Toulon:
Tries: Smith, Van Niekerk, Cibray
Cons:Wilkinson
Pens: Wilkinson 2

Yellow cards: Vilaceca (Perpignan - 9th min - dangerous play); Tchale Watchou (Perpignan - 35th min - high tackle)

USA Perpignan: 15 Jérôme Porical, 14 Adrien Plante, 13 David Marty, 12 Jean-Philippe Grandclaude, 11 Julien Candelon, 10 Nicolas Laharrague, 9 Florian Cazenave, 8 Henry Tuilagi, 7 Damien Chouly, 6 Bertrand Guiry, 5 Robins Tchale Watchou, 4 Guillaume Vilaceca, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 Guilhem Guirado, 1 Jérôme Schuster,
Replacements: 16 Charles Geli, 17 Perry Freshwater, 18 Kisi Pulu, 19 Rimas Alvarez Kairelis, 20 David Mele, 21 Gavin Hume, 22 Joffrey Michel, 23 Ovidiu Tonita.

RC Toulon:15 Rory Lamont, 14 Rudi Wulf, 13 Geoffroy Messina, 12 Gabi Lovobalavu, 11 Christian Loamanu, 10 Jonny Wilkinson, 9 Pierre Mignoni, 8 Joe van Niekerk, 7 George Smith, 6 Juan Fernandez Lobbe, 5 Dean Schofield, 4 Kris Chesney, 3 Davit Kubriashvili, 2 Sebastien Bruno, 1 Laurent Emmanuelli.
Replacements: 16 Jean-Philippe Genevois, 17 Saimone Taumoepeau, 18 Damien Tussac, 19 Joe El Abd, 20 Felipe Contepomi, 21 Paul Sackey, 22 Fabien Cibray, 23 Christophe Samson.

Referee: Alain Rolland