Toulon 29
Leinster 14
LEINSTER WERE UNABLE to set up a Dublin semi-final against Munster as they were out-muscled by a star-studded Toulon side in this afternoon’s Heineken Cup quarter-final.
Reigning champions Toulon were always favourite leading into the hotly-anticipated clash and lived up to their billing for all but the final stages when the deficit was too much for Matt O’Connor’s men.
On a day of frustration and errors, Leinster’s only try came in that late period; replacement Jordi Murphy grounding the ball in the corner after a 70th minute maul set up by the retiring Leo Cullen.
The second row was the least heralded player making a potential final bow in European rugby today, but while the game was billed as Jonny Wilkinson v Brian O’Driscoll, neither will leave satisfied as the English out-half left the fray early with a thigh injury.
Wilkinson delivered the game’s opening two scores with flawless penalties from over the 40 metre mark, but as he hobbled off the momentum temporarily appeared to be in Leinster’s favour as Jimmy Gopperth has tied the game up.
The score remained 6 – 6 until half-time, but rather than build upon the success of surviving a half in which they conceded the vast majority of possession and territory, Leinster wilted when Toulon turned up the heat with pivotal plays from Delon Armitage and Xavier Chiocci.
In the blink of an eye, the gap was 10 points, Chiocci forcing his way over after Giteau had found his kicking range from the halfway line.
The front row powered by Cian Healy continued to come up with wins in some valuable skirmishes, but the war was being lost all over the park – nowhere more so than the second row where Danie Rossouw was proving difficult to put down. Gopperth would narrow the gap to a try again on 54 minutes, but the Leinster error count continued to mount.
On the back of a scrappy line-out the blue shirts found themselves needing to turn and retreat, a dropped Reddan pass hacked back into the 22 and cahsed down by the immense Steffon Armitage. Maxime Mermoz offered enough support to attack on the blindside before the Sebastien Tillous-Borde whipped the ball back to Mathieu Bastareaud who ignored the outside overlap to suck in four defenders on his trundle to the five metre line where he offloaded to Drew Mitchell en route under the posts.
23 – 9, a 14-point gap which even the back-to-back European champions didn’t believe they could recover. Armitage blasted over a long-range penalty minutes later to send the newspapers flying in the stands. And even when Leinster hit back and the hosts slipped to 14 men with a yellow card for Florian Fresia, the crowd were given no reason to doubt they could go all the way and retain the Heineken Cup.
This time around, they will have a ‘home’ semi rather than taking on Saracens in London. Munster will have strong words to say about bookmakers making the French giants favourites for the title, but they will also have their work cut out to avoid the same fate as Leinster on April 27 in Marseille.
Scorers
Toulon:
Tries: Chiocci, Mitchell.
Conversions: Giteau (2).
Penalties: Wilkinson (2) Giteau (2), D Armitage.
Leinster:
Try: Murphy.
Penalties: Gopperth (3).
Leinster: Rob Kearney; Fergus McFadden, Brian O’Driscoll, Gordon D’Arcy, Dave Kearney; Jimmy Gopperth, Eoin Reddan; Cian Healy, Richardt Strauss, Mike Ross; Devin Toner, Mike McCarthy; Rhys Ruddock, Shane Jennings, Jamie Heaslip (capt.).
Replacements: Sean Cronin, Jack McGrath, Martin Moore, Leo Cullen, Jordi Murphy, Isaac Boss, Ian Madigan, Zane Kirchner.
Toulon: Delon Armitage; Drew Mitchell, Mathieu Bastareaud, Matt Giteau, David Smith; Jonny Wilkinson (capt.), Sebastién Tillous-Borde; Xavier Chiocci, Craig Burden, Carl Hayman; Danie Rossouw, Jocelino Suta; Juan Smith, Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe, Steffon Armitage.
Replacements: Jean-Charles Orioli, Florian Fresia, Martin Castrogiovanni, Virgile Bruni, Bryan Habana, Maxime Mermoz, Michael Claassens, Konstantine Mikautadze.
