1
Three second-half tries from Glasgow Warriors were not enough to stop Toulon from making it fifth time lucky with a 43-19 victory in the EPCR Challenge Cup final at the Aviva Stadium. After four final defeats, the French side hit Glasgow for six with three tries in each half as they eased to victory to give retiring Italian number eight Sergio Parisse a title-winning send-off.
ADVERTISEMENT
Toulon were quickly into their stride and looked confident from the off as they chased their first Challenge Cup title at the venue where they won their first Heineken Champions Cup crown in 2013.
They lost Wales fly-half Dan Biggar with a head injury after only four minutes, then saw Australian centre Duncan Paia’Aua go off for another HIA in the 32nd minute.
They also lost influential scrum-half Baptiste Serin in the final move of the opening 40 minutes with a left knee injury that required a third change to their starting back division.
There was a fourth alteration at the start of the second half when Mathieu Bastareaud came on to replace wing Gabin Villiers, who also failed an HIA. By then, though, Serin has sparked his side into life with two tries as they sped into a 21-0 interval lead.
Toulon quickly recovered from the loss of Biggar and two minutes later, with Ihaia West on to replace the Welshman, Serin produced a moment of magic to get the scoreboard moving. After taking the ball from a ruck on the Glasgow 22 he dabbed the ball through the defensive line, regathered and just managed to touch down despite the efforts of Ollie Smith to turn him on his back over the line.
The scrum-half added the extras and then picked out 39-year-old Italian legend Parisse for a try at the posts after more pressure from the Top 14 outfit after Glasgow had lost a line-out.
ADVERTISEMENT
Serin added the extras and then picked up the third try after 25 minutes. Glasgow lost another line out on their 10-metre line and Toulon skipper Charles Ollivon drove on.
Fijian centre Waisea Vuidravuwalu carried on strongly and when he was brought down on the line, Serin picked up and dotted down before adding a third conversion.
Glasgow started the second half encouragingly, but their inability to turn pressure into points cost them dearly. It was not until their 11th incursion into the Toulon 22 that they managed to break their duck and that came via a try from skipper Kyle Steyn in the 55th minute from a neat move down the blindside of a lineout.
Before then replacement scrum-half Benoit Paillaugue had added a penalty to extend the lead to 24 points. George Horne’s angled conversion of Steyn’s score gave Glasgow hope, but two more tries slammed the door shut as far as a comeback was concerned.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Fijian duo of Jiuta Wainiqolo and Vuidravuwalu scored them and Paillaugue converted the latter to make it 36-7 with 16 minutes to go.
Glasgow earned some respectability with later tries from Sebastian Cancelliere and Steyn, but it was never going to be enough. West scampered over for the final try with two minutes to go and Paillaugue kicked another conversion to complete the scoring.
Comments on RugbyPass
Billy's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
2 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
28 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
1 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
1 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
2 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to commentsAnd the person responsible for creating a culture of accountability is?
3 Go to commentsMore useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to commentsThis disgraceful episode must result in management and coach team sackings. A new manager with worse results than previous and the coaching staff need to coached. Awful massacre led by donkeys.
1 Go to commentsInteresting article with one glaring mistake. This sentence: “And between the top four nations right now, Ireland, France, South Africa, and New Zealand…” should read: And between the top four nations right now, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand and France…”. Get it right wistful thinkers, its not that hard.
24 Go to commentsHow did Penny get the gig anyway?
3 Go to commentsNice write up Nick and I would have agreed a week ago. However as you would know Cale & co got absolutely monstered by the Blues back row of Sotutu, Ioane and Papaliti and not all of these 3 are guaranteed a start in the Black jumper. He may need to put some kgs before stepping up, Spring tour? After the week end Joe will be a bit more restless. Will need to pick a mobile tough pack for Wales and hope England does the right thing and bashes the ABs. I like your last paragraph but I would bring Swinton, Hannigan into the 6 role and Bobby V to 8
28 Go to commentsThe Crusaders can still get in to the Play Off’s. The imminent return of outstanding captain Scott Barrett and his All Black team mate Codie Taylor will be a big boost.There are others like Tamaiti Williams too. Two home games coming up. Fellow Crusader fans get there and support these guys. I will be.
2 Go to commentsCant get more Wellington than Proctor.
3 Go to commentsWhy not let the media decide. Like how they choose the head coach. Like most of us we entrust the rugby system to choose. A rugby team includes the coaches. It's collective.
14 Go to commentsHi NIck, I have been very impressed with him and he seems a smart player who can see opportunities which Bobby V _(who must be an international 6_) doesn’t see or have the speed to take advantage of. If he continues to improve and puts on 5kgs then he could be a great 8. He is a bit taller than Keiran Reid at 1.93m and 111 kgs, so his skill set fits his body size and who knows where it will lead. I hope the spate of Achilles tendon issues have been dealt with by the S&C people. It’s been a very long time since Mark Loane and Kefu stood out at 8. The question is will we be able to hold onto him, if he does make it he will be pretty hot property. I disagree with the idea of letting them go to the Northern Hemisphere and then bring them back.
28 Go to commentsBilly Fulton 🤣🤣🤣🤣 garrrmon not even close
14 Go to comments