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Toulon gain revenge on Leicester

13th December 2014 16:59

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Mathieu Bastareaud Toulon v Leicester

Up for it: Mathieu Bastareaud

Toulon got their revenge on Leicester with a comfortable 23-8 win at the Stade Félix Mayol to keep their quarter-final ambitions on track.

An early Ali Williams try helped Toulon into a 17-0 lead early on as they overwhelmed Leicester in the opening stages.

The Tigers fought back with a score from Blaine Scully, but Mathieu Bastareaud's second-half try killed off the visitors' hopes of a comeback.

Leicester had been impressive during last week's 25-21 win at Welford Road, which ended up being rather overshadowed by Martin Castrogiovanni's rant at former coach Richard Cockerill.

That incident seemed to have fired the home side up, and they took it to Leicester from the off, racing into a lead that the Tigers never looked like overcoming.

Toulon could have been over from the kick-off but Leicester survived when Guilhem Guirado couldn't collect Chris Masoe's pass. They did take the lead quickly though with the returning Leigh Halfpenny slotting a penalty after just five minutes.

Leicester were struggling to get hold of the ball and Toulon didn't have to wait long for the first try.

Their big runners were making ground and after a little half break from Maxime Mermoz, he fed Halfpenny. Leicester were hanging on but two more charges, first from Juan Smith, followed by a pick and go from Ali Williams, saw the former All Black lock score. Halfpenny's conversion made it 10-0 after as many minutes.

The home side had overwhelmed their opponents and Halfpenny added three more points when Leicester again infringed after a powerful charge from Bastareaud.

Owen Williams was having a tough time of it, putting a couple of kicks straight out and looking far removed from the player who impressed so much at Welford Road.

Halfpenny added another penalty when Sébastien Tillous-Borde was taken out at a ruck and it looked like being a rout.

Leicester reacted well though, grabbing their first try through Blaine Scully. It came after a break from Owen Williams in midfield, slipping out of the tackle of Nicolas Sanchez to stretch the home defence.

The Tigers got some quick ball and sent it back right and Jamie Gibson showed good hands to put the American over in the corner. Owen Williams couldn't add the touchline conversion but it was 16-5 and they were on the board.

Owen Williams didn't seem to have completely shaken off his poor start, and his afternoon got worse when he kicked a penalty dead to hand Toulon a scrum, wasting a good opportunity for Leicester to cut the deficit further.

That was how it stayed until the break as Leicester seemed to recover from their nightmare start, and they weren't completely out of it heading into the changing rooms.

They came out and dominated possession early in the second half, but Toulon's second try looked to have killed off their challenge. It came just before the hour after some great footwork from Sanchez almost saw him go over only for a last-gasp Ben Youngs tackle.

It mattered little though, as Toulon recycled and Bastareaud collected Ali Williams' low pass to crash under the posts.

Halfpenny's conversion made it 23-5, and despite an Owen Williams penalty a couple of minutes later, the European champions were in complete control.

Bastareaud was almost in again two minutes later after a lovely inside line from Bryan Habana, but this time he couldn't collect the low ball.

Toulon seemed like they might go on to claim the bonus point, but instead the game petered out a little.

Leicester never really threatened to pick up a bonus point, and now have just eight points after their first four games. With a tricky trip to Ulster to come on the final day, this seemed to all but end their European challenge.

Toulon meanwhile are back to winning ways and have still not lost a home game at Mayol. With 13 points already they are well-placed to pick up a home quarter-final as they seek an unprecedented third straight European title.

The scorers:

For Toulon:
Tries: Williams, Bastareaud
Cons: Halfpenny 2
Pens: Halfpenny 3

For Leicester:
Try: Scully
Pen: Williams

The teams:

Toulon: 15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Delon Armitage, 13 Mathieu Bastareaud, 12 Maxime Mermoz, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Nicolas Sanchez, 9 Sebastien Tillous-Borde, 8 Chris Masoe (c) 7 Steffon Armitage, 6 Juan Smith, 5 Ali Williams, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 Levan Chilachava, 2 Guilhem Guirado, 1 Alexandre Menini.
Replacements:16 Jean-Charles Orioli, 17 Florian Fresia, 18 Carl Hayman, 19 Mamuka Gorgodze, 20 James O'Connor, 21 Jocelino Suta, 22 Michael Claassens, 23 Romain Taofifenua

Leicester Tigers: 15 Matthew Tait, 14 Blaine Scully, 13 Matt Smith, 12 Anthony Allen, 11 Vereniki Goneva, 10 Owen Williams, 9 Ben Youngs (c), 8 Robert Barbieri 7 Julian Salvi, 6 Jamie Gibson, 5 Geoff Parling, 4 Brad Thorn, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Marcos Ayerza.
Replacements:16 Tom Youngs, 17 Michele Rizzo, 18 Fraser Balmain, 19 Sebastian De Chaves, 20 Jordan Crane, 21 Tom Croft, 22 Sam Harrison, 23 Freddie Burns

Venue: Stade Félix Mayol, Toulon
Referee: George Clancy (Ireland)

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