STAR-STUDDED TOULON LABOURED past Cardiff Blues for their second win in two outings in European Cup action on Sunday, as former two-time champions Munster ran out comfortable victors over pointless Edinburgh.
Leicester also sent out a warning in their clash with Pro12 champions Ospreys, running out 39-22 bonus-point winners in a Pool 2 that also includes unbeaten four-time champions Toulouse and Italians Treviso.
In Cardiff, Jonny Wilkinson kicked five penalties and a conversion for a personal haul of 17 points as Toulon ran out 22-14 winners in their Pool 6 match.
The French club’s sole try came from erstwhile England flanker Steffon Armitage as a Blues side inspired by Wales trio Leigh Halfpenny, Alex Cuthbert and Lou Reed battled to keep the home side in the game.
“I feel a lot of pride and a lot of frustration, for 80 minutes we stuck in there and performed superbly well and gave ourselves a platform to potentially win the game,” said Cardiff director of rugby Phil Davies.“But for a bit of inaccuracy and a bit more field position we could have beaten one of the strongest squad in Europe.”
Halfpenny opened the scoring with a surprise try in just the second minute, making the most of a midfield defensive lapse by Australian Matt Giteau after a nice inside pass from winger Tom James.
Wilkinson made no mistake with a simple penalty after 10 minutes and hit a second soon after to move his side ahead, but the English star pushed a third effort wide, as did Halfpenny with his first effort on the half-hour.
With a stilted Toulon side shying away from much ambition, the home side deserved to re-take the lead with a Halfpenny penalty just before the break.
After a turnover, the Blues again put themselves on the front foot, Halfpenny tracking down an isolated Giteau but slipped as he attempted the resulting penalty.
Attack
Wilkinson made no such mistake when next up in front of Cardiff’s posts, but Halfpenny dragged the hosts back into the game with a penalty with 20 minutes to play.
The French side immediately fired back, however, France scrum-half Frederic Michalak overseeing a series of midfield attacks, with Steffon Armitage eventually crashing over after a break by Giteau, Wilkinson converting.
Going into the final minutes, Halfpenny kicked his third penalty to ensure a nerve-racking finale.
But a basic ruck infringement handed Toulon the advantage from the re-start, and Wilkinson booted a simple penalty to wrap up an afternoon the French side made much more difficult for themselves than had seemed warranted.
In pool 6′s other game today, Montpelier put Sale Sharks to the sword with a 33-18 in the south of France.
Four penalties from Martin Bustos Moyano gave the French side a 12-8 half time lead after Mark Cueto opened the scoring with a try.
Centre Timoci Nagusa’s second half try was sandwiched between touchdowns from halfbacks Francois Trinh-Duc and Julien Tomas.
The latter’s try came with 20 minutes remaining, but the Top 14 side could not force their way over for a bonus-point try. At the other end, Sharks, who had started with Tony Buckley and Cillian Willis in the side, pulled seven points back through substitute Richie Vernon.
Belter
Leicester left it late against the Ospreys in a belter of a tussle at Welford Road.
England half-back pairing Ben Youngs and Toby Flood each scored a try, along with Manu Tuilagi with his second, in the final nine minutes to give the scoreline an unlikely tilt after a contest that had been close throughout.
A first-minute try from Ryan Jones allied with 17 points from Dan Biggar were simply not enough to undo a Leicester inspired in particular by Flood, who also hit 19 points with the boot including a couple of monster penalties.
“I think Toby gets a lot of unfair criticism,” said Leicester coach Richard Cockerill.
“He’s played 50-odd Tests for England. He is a really good player.”
