Giteau inspires Toulon victory

 

The match took place in a highly-charged atmosphere in the wake of the Islamist killing spree this week in Paris which resulted in 17 deaths – the players and spectators joined in both a minute's silence and applause followed by a rousing rendition of the French national anthem 'La Marseillaise'.

 

Victory for Toulon took them to provisional second, three points behind leaders Stade Francais, who beat Castres on Friday, though Clermont could leapfrog them when they host Brive later on Saturday.

 

Toulon got off to a superb start scoring two tries in the opening quarter-of-an-hour.

 

Their first came through fullback Leigh Halfpenny – set up by Giteau who has been out since late October with a groin injury – and the Welshman then gathered himself and converted.

 

Benjamin Dambielle reduced the deficit with a penalty for the visitors but they were hit by a second Toulon try in the 15th minute.

 

Former Springbok Juan Smith was responsible for it, managing to touch down at full stretch, and Halfpenny converted for 14-3.

 

Racing didn't do themselves any favours in terms of getting back into the match as they were reduced to 13 men in the 22nd minute with both Jamie Roberts and Adrien Plante sin-binned in separate incidents.

 

Halfpenny punished Roberts sin-binning with another penalty and the hosts then added a third try as Bryan Habana went over — this time Halfpenny saw his effort cannon back off a post — for his third try of the campaign.

 

Toulon lost another of their formidable South African contingent when lock Bakkies Botha had to go off with what looked like a broken finger.

 

Toulon were suddenly on the back foot too as the visitors stormed back into the match with tries either side of half-time firstly through former Toulon wing Marc Andreu, who completely out-foxed Halfpenny.

 

Roberts got back in the good books as he sent Habana the wrong way to go over for his first this season three minutes into the second-half — the hosts down to 14 men as Drew Mitchell had been yellow-carded.

 

Dambielle converted them both to reduce the deficit to five points — 22-17 — and they got to 22-20 when another former Toulon player fullback Benjamin Lapeyre landed a long range penalty in the 46th minute.

 

However, like the champions they are Toulon responded in style.

 

Halfpenny kicked a penalty and then Giteau did just enough to break a tackle and at full stretch touch down over the line for his 10th try of the season – Halfpenny converted for 32-20.

 

Dambielle hit back with a penalty in the 56th minute but try as they might Racing were unable to breach the Toulon line again and the hosts held out for victory on an emotionally-charged afternoon.

 

 

 

 

Tries: Halfpenny, Smith, Habana, Giteau

Cons: Halfpenny 3

Pens: Halfpenny 2

 

Tries: Andreu, Roberts

Cons: Dambielle 2

Pens: Dambielle 2, Lapeyre

Yellow Cards: Roberts, Planté

 

 

Toulon: 15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Drew Mitchell, 13 Maxime Mermoz, 12 Matt Giteau, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Juan Martín Hernández, 9 Sebastien Tillous-Borde, 8 Chris Masoe, 7 Steffon Armitage, 6 Juan Smith, 5 Ali Williams, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 Carl Hayman, 2 Guilhem Guirado, 1 Alexandre Menini. 

Replacements: 16 Jean Charles Orioli, 17 Xavier Chiocci, 18 Jocelino Suta, 19 Mamuka Gorgodze, 20 Rudi Wulf, 21 Nicolás Sánchez, 22 Éric Escande, 23 Martin Castrogiovanni.

 

Racing Métro: 15 Benjamin Lapeyre, 14 Adrien Planté, 13 Casey Laulala, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Marc Andreu, 10 Benjamin Dambielle, 9 Mike Phillips, 8 Antonie Claassen, 7 Camille Gerondeau, 6 Wenceslas Lauret, 5 Francois van der Merwe, 4 Luke Charteris, 3 Luc Ducalcon, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski, 1 Eddy Ben Arous.

Replacements: 16 Virgile Lacombe, 17 Julien Brugnaut, 18 Tomas Lavanini, 19 Bernard le Roux, 20 Maxime Machenaud, 21 Brice Dulin, 22 Yoan Audrin, 23 Brian Mujati.

 

Referee: Jérôme Garcès

Assistant Referees: Thomas Charabas, Laurent Breil

TMO: Jean-Marie Piraveau

 

 

 

Tries: O'Connor, Rokocoko

Cons: Bustos Moyano 2

Pens: Bustos Moyano 2

 

Try: Brett

Con: Porical

Pens: Porical 5

Yellow Cards: Nallet, Bonnefond

 

 

Bayonne: 15 Scott Spedding, 14 Martín Bustos Moyano, 13 Joe Rokocoko, 12 Matthieu Ugalde, 11 Marvin O'Connor, 10 Santiago Fernandez, 9 Guillaume Rouet, 8 Charles Ollivon, 7 Mark Chisholm, 6 Jean Monribot, 5 Pelu Ian Taele, 4 Dewald Senekal, 3 Gert Muller, 2 Anthony Etrillard, 1 Janse van Rensburg.

Replacements: 16 David Roumieu, 17 Aretz Iguiniz, 18 Benjamin Macome, 19 Baptiste Chouzenoux, 20 Christophe Loustalot, 21 Gabiriele Lovobalavu, 22 Jon Elissalde, 23 Lucas Pointud.

 

Lyon: 15 Jérôme Porical, 14 Franck Romanet, 13 Kendrick Lynn, 12 Waisele Sukanaveita, 11 Mosese Ratuvou, 10 Stephen Brett, 9 Mathieu Loree, 8 George Smith, 7 Karim Ghezal, 6 Julien Puricelli, 5 Lionel Nallet, 4 Coenraad Basson, 3 Horatiu Pungea, 2 Deon Fourie, 1 Emmanuel Felsina. 

Replacements: 16 Damien Fitzpatrick, 17 Florin Balan, 18 Mickael de Marco, 19 Juan Leguizamon, 20 Enrico Januarie, 21 Paul Bonnefond, 22 Romain Loursac, 23 Francisco Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro.

 

Referee: Romain Poite

 

 

 

Tries: Avei 2, Le Bourhis

Cons: Beauxis 2

Pens: Beauxis 5

 

Try: Thiery

Con: Wisniewski

Pens: Wisniewski 3

Yellow Cards: Caminati, Edwards

 

 

Bordeaux-Bègles: 15 Sofiane Guitoune, 14 Metuisela Talebula, 13 Felix le Bourhis, 12 Thibault Lacroix, 11 Blair Connor, 10 Lionel Beauxis, 9 Yann Lesgourgues, 8 Taiasina Tuifua, 7 Matthew Clarkin, 6 Louis-Benoît Madaule, 5 Berend Botha, 4 Jandre Marais, 3 Albert Toetu, 2 Wayne Avei, 1 Sebastien Taofifenua.

Replacements: 16 Benat Auzqui, 17 Jefferson Poirot, 18 Julien Ledevedec, 19 Bertrand Guiry, 20 Baptiste Serin, 21 Pierre Bernard, 22 Romain Lonca, 23 Francisco Gomez Kodela.

 

Grenoble: 15 Benjamin Thiery, 14 Julien Caminati, 13 Chris Farrell, 12 Nigel Hunt, 11 Xavier Mignot, 10 Jonathan Wisniewski, 9 Charl Mcleod, 8 Rory Grice, 7 Fabien Alexandre, 6 Henry Vanderglas, 5 Paul Willemse, 4 Hendrik Roodt, 3 Dayna Edwards, 2 Laurent Bouchet, 1 Remy Hugues. 

Replacements: 16 Arnaud Heguy, 17 Alexandre Dardet, 18 Benjamin Hand, 19 Florian Faure, 20 James Hart, 21 Jackson Willison, 22 Robinson Caire, 23 Kevin Goze.

 

Referee: Cyril Lafon

 

 

 

Tries: Tian 2, Cibray

Con: Urdapilleta

Pen: Urdapilleta

 

Try: Nagusa

Con: Lucas

Pens: Lucas 2

 

 

Oyonnax: 15 Regis Lespinas, 14 Silvere Tian, 13 Pierre Aguillon, 12 Roimata Hansell Pune, 11 Yves Donguy, 10 Benjamin Urdapilleta, 9 Fabien Cibray, 8 Viliami Maafu, 7 Olivier Missoup, 6 Valentin Ursache, 5 Leon Power, 4 Damien Lagrange, 3 Antoine Guillamon, 2 Jody Jenneker, 1 Antoine Tichit. 

Replacements: 16 Paula mark Ngauamo, 17 Marc Clerc, 18 Thibault Lassalle, 19 Maurie Faasavalu, 20 Agustin Figuerola, 21 Hemani Paea, 22 Adriaan Smit, 23 Lukas Rapant.

 

Montpellier: 15 Pierre Berard, 14 Timoci Nagusa, 13 Anthony Tuitavake, 12 Wynand Olivier, 11 Rene Ranger, 10 Ben Lucas, 9 Jonathan Pélissié, 8 Alex Tulou, 7 Alexandre Bias, 6 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 5 Thibaut Privat, 4 Tom Donnelly, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 Charles Geli, 1 Mikheil Nariashvili. 

Replacements: 16 Mickael Ivaldi, 17 Naama Leleimalefaga, 18 Robins Tchale Watchou, 19 Ben Mowen, 20 Benoit Paillaugue, 21 Robert Ebersohn, 22 Benoit Sicart, 23 Pat Cilliers.

 

Referee: Christophe Berdos

 

 

 

Tries: Dusautoir, David 2, Huget

Cons: McAlister 3

Pen: McAlister

 

Tries: Audy, Eaton

Cons: Grant 2

Pens: Grant 3

 

 

Toulouse: 15 Clement Poitrenaud, 14 Vincent Clerc, 13 Yann David, 12 Gael Fickou, 11 Yoann Huget, 10 Luke Mcalister, 9 Sebastien Bezy, 8 Gillian Galan, 7 Imanol Harinordoquy, 6 Thierry Dusautoir, 5 Patricio Albacete, 4 Yoann Maestri, 3 Census Johnston, 2 Corey Flynn, 1 Gurthro Steenkamp. 

Replacements: 16 Julien Marchand, 17 Vasil Kakovin, 18 Iosefa Tekori, 19 Yannick Nyanga, 20 Jean Marc Doussain, 21 Maxime Medard, 22 Timoci Matanavou, 23 Kisi Pulu.

 

La Rochelle: 15 Kini Murimurivalu, 14 Alofa Alofa, 13 Jean Pascal Barraque, 12 Levani Botia, 11 Sereli Bobo, 10 Peter Grant, 9 Julien Audy, 8 Kevin Gourdon, 7 Loann Goujon, 6 Jason Eaton, 5 Jone Qovu, 4 Romana Graham, 3 Uini Atonio, 2 Hikairo Forbes, 1 Thomas Synaeghel. 

Replacements: 16 Benjamin Geledan, 17 Vincent Pelo, 18 Leandro Cedaro, 19 Benoit Guyot, 20 Julien Berger, 21 Hamish Gard, 22 Malietoa Seuli Hingano, 23 Lekso Kaulashvili.

 

Referee: Patrick Pechambert