Habana hands Toulon victory

Two-time defending European champions Toulon took a big step towards the European Champions Cup knockout stages with a solid 23-13 victory over Ulster in Belfast on Saturday.

The French side outscored the hosts two tries to one which included South African star Bryan Habana finishing off an excellent move on the stroke of half-time and English wing Delon Armitage running back an interception in the second-half.

Ulster got a late try through Craig Gilroy but it was not enough to prevent them slipping to their second defeat in a week in the competition, the first time they have lost their first two games since the 2008/09 campaign.

"This was like a semi-final to us. To get a win here is tough. True champions are those that bounce back and front up and we have done that since we lost to Toulouse a fortnight ago.

"To be fair we are not looking towards winning three in a row we are just looking at each game as it comes," said Toulon flank Chris Masoe.

Ulster captain Rory Best was left disappointed by his side's display on what was his 50th appearance in the competition.

"We fancied our chances today but the fact is great clubs have good players who take the right decisions and Toulon have that capacity and did that today," the hooker said.

Toulon and Ulster were tightly-matched for most of the first-half and looked set to be just 9-3 in the champions favour until the French side scored a delightful try with the last move of the half.

Juan Smith with a delightful overhead pass found Masoe who offloaded to Habana, who had drifted over left to right wing, and the South African star touched down — Halfpenny converted for 16-3.

Toulon killed off any hope of an Ulster comeback when midway through the second-half Armstrong intercepted deep inside his own half with the hosts threatening to score a try of their own.

The Englishman ran it the whole way back to touch down under the posts and Leigh Halfpenny converted to silence the home crowd.

Toulouse deserved their victory with three tries to Bath's one, man of the match 34-year-old veteran flanker Imanol Harinordoquy scoring one and setting up another for Maxime Medard.

"This was a very good match for us to win and one in which we maintained the right amount of focus," said Harinordoquy, who signed from long-time club Biarritz when they were relegated last season.

"We look as if we may have turned the corner with these victories but we still need to keep our foot on the pedal to regain ground we lost earlier this season."

*Elsewhere fellow Top 14 side Toulouse recorded their first away victory of the season, beating English side Bath 21-19, confirming the four-time European Cup winners have turned a corner with their fourth successive victory, having lost their previous five – their worst run in 50 years.

Toulouse don't top the pool as Scottish side Glasgow, who thrashed Bath last week, edged a surprise 15-13 away win at Montpellier to lead Toulouse by a point.

*The most notable individual performance of th round came from Welsh international George North who scored four tries as Northampton thrashed Ospreys 34-6.

North's first ever quadruple inflicted Ospreys' first defeat of the season and extended the Welsh side's woeful away record in the competition with their last victory outside of Wales coming five years ago.

*Toulon top Pool 3 with eight points while Scarlets are second after beating former champions Leicester 15-3 with wing Harry Robinson and scrum-half Aled Davies scoring tries for the Welsh side.

Scarlets and Leicester have four points while Ulster are struggling with just a point after two games.

The scores and scorers:

Ulster 13-23 Toulon

For Ulster:

Try: Gilroy

Con: Jackson

Pens: Jackson 2

For Toulon:

Tries: Habana, Armitage

Cons: Halfpenny 2

Pens: Halfpenny 3

Ulster: 15 Louis Ludik, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Jared Payne, 12 Stuart Olding, 11 Craig Gilroy, 10 Paddy Jackson, 9 Paul Marshall, 8 Roger Wilson, 7 Chris Henry, 6 Robbie Diack, 5 Franco Van Der Merwe, 4 Lewis Stevenson, 3 Wiehahn Herbst, 2 Rory Best (captain), 1 Andy Warwick.

Replacements: 16 Rob Herring, 17 Callum Black, 18 Declan Fitzpatrick, 19 Clive Ross, 20 Nick Williams, 21 Michael Heaney, 22 Ian Humphreys, 23 Darren Cave.

Toulon: 15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Delon Armitage, 13 Mathieu Bastareaud, 12 Maxime Mermoz, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Matt Giteau, 9 Michael Claassens, 8 Chris Masoe, 7 Steffon Armitage, 6 Juan Fernandez Lobbe, 5 Romain Taofifenua, 4 Jocelino Suta, 3 Carl Hayman (captain), 2 Guilhem Guirado, 1 Alexandre Menini.

Replacements: 16 Craig Burden, 17 Fabien Barcella, 18 Levan Chilachava, 19 Bakkies Botha, 20 James O'Connor, 21 Ali Williams, 22 Sebastien Tillous-Borde, 23 Juan Smith.

Bath 19-21 Toulouse

For Bath:

Try: Batty

Con: Ford

Pens: Ford 3

DG: Ford

For Toulouse:

Tries: Clerc, Harinordoquy, Médard

Cons: Flood 2, McAlister

Bath: 15 Anthony Watson, 14 Semesa Rokoduguni, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Ollie Devoto, 11 Horacio Agulla, 10 George Ford, 9 Chris Cook, 8 Charlie Ewels, 7 David Sisi, 6 Dominic Day, 5 Dave Attwood, 4 Stuart Hooper (captain), 3 David Wilson, 2 Rob Webber, 1 Paul James.

Replacements: 16 Ross Batty, 17 Nathan Catt, 18 Henry Thomas, 19 Tom Ellis, 20 Guy Mercer, 21 Peter Stringer, 22 Gavin Henson, 23 Olly Woodburn

Toulouse: 15 Maxime Médard, 14 Vincent Clerc, 13 Florian Fritz, 12 Luke McAlister, 11 Yoann Huget, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Sébastien Bézy, 8 Louis Picamoles, 7 Imanol Harinordoquy, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (captain), 5 Patricio Albacete, 4 Yoann Maestri, 3 Census Johnston, 2 Corey Flynn, 1 Gürthro Steenkamp.

Replacements: 16 Julien Marchand, 17 Kisi Pulu, 18 Cyril Baille, 19 Joe Tekori, 20 Edwin Maka, 21 Jano Vermaak, 22 Timoci Matanavou, 23 Yannick Nyanga.

Montpellier 13-15 Glasgow

For Montpellier:

Try: Penalty

Con: Iribaren

Pens: Paillaugue 2

Yellow Card: Ebersohn (58th minute)

For Glasgow:

Pens: Russell 5

Montpellier: 15 Benjamin Fall, 14 Timoci Nagusa, 13 Rene Ranger, 12 Robert Ebersohn, 11 Samisoni Viriviri, 10 Enzo Selponi, 9 Benoit Paillaugue, 8 Alex Tulou (captain), 7 Akapusi Qera, 6 Kelian Galletier, 5 Sitaleki Timani, 4 Tom Donnelly, 3 Chris King, 2 Mickael Ivaldi, 1 Yvan Watremez.

Replacements: 16 Thomas Bianchin, 17 Mikheil Nariashvili, 18 Nicolas Mas, 19 Thibaut Privat, 20 Alexandre Bias, 21 Teddy Iribaren, 22 Wynand Olivier, 23 Pierre Berard.

Glasgow: 15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Sean Maitland, 13 Mark Bennett, 12 Alex Dunbar, 11 Tommy Seymour, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Henry Pyrgos, 8 Josh Strauss (captain), 7 Chris Fusaro, 6 Robert Harley, 5 Jonny Gray, 4 Tim Swinson, 3 Euan Murray, 2 Pat MacArthur, 1 Gordon Reid.

Replacements: 16 Fraser Brown, 17 Alex Allan, 18 Rossouw de Klerk, 19 Leone Nakarawa, 20 Adam Ashe, 21 Niko Matawalu, 22 Duncan Weir, 23 DTH van der Merwe.

Northampton 34-6 Ospreys

For Northampton:

Tries: North 4

Cons: Myler 4

Pens: Myler 2

For Ospreys:

Pens: Biggar 2

Northampton: 15 Ben Foden, 14 Ken Pisi, 13 James Wilson, 12 Luther Burrell, 11 George North, 10 Steve Myler, 9 Lee Dickson, 8 Samu Manoa 7 Tom Wood, 6 Calum Clark, 5 Christian Day, 4 Courtney Lawes, 3 Salesi Ma'afu, 2 Dylan Hartley (captain), 1 Alex Waller.

Replacements: 16 Mikey Haywood, 17 Ethan Waller, 18 Gareth Denman, 19 James Craig, 20 Phil Dowson, 21 Kahn Fotuali'i, 22 Will Hooley, 23 Jamie Elliott.

Ospreys: 15 Daniel Evans, 14 Tom Grabham, 13 Jeff Hassler, 12 Josh Matavesi, 11 Hanno Dirksen, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Rhys Webb, 8 Joe Bearman 7 Justin Tipuric, 6 James King, 5 Alun-Wyn Jones (captain), 4 Lloyd Peers, 3 Dmitri Arhip, 2 Scott Baldwin, 1 Nicky Smith.

Replacements: 16 Sam Parry, 17 Duncan Jones, 18 Aaron Jarvis, 19 Rynier Bernardo, 20 Morgan Allen, 21 Sam Lewis, 22 Martin Roberts, 23 Sam Davies.

Scarlets 15-3 Leicester

For Scarlets:

Tries: Robinson, A Davies

Con: S Shingler

Pen: S Shingler

For Leicester:

Pen: O Williams

Scarlets: 15 Liam Williams, 14 Harry Robinson, 13 Michael Tagicakibau, 12 Scott Williams (captain), 11 Kristian Phillips, 10 Rhys Priestland, 9 Aled Davies, 8 Rory Pitman, 7 John Barclay, 6 Aaron Shingler, 5 Johan Snyman, 4 Jake Ball, 3 Samson Lee, 2 Emyr Phillips, 1 Rob Evans.

Replacements: 16 Kirby Myhill, 17 Phil John, 18 Rhodri Jones, 19 Lewis Rawlins, 20 James Davies, 21 Rhodri Williams, 22 Steven Shingler, 23 Jordan Williams.

Leicester: 15 Matthew Tait, 14 Blaine Scully, 13 Vereniki Goneva, 12 Anthony Allen, 11 Miles Benjamin, 10 Owen Williams, 9 Ben Youngs (captain), 8 Jordan Crane, 7 Julian Salvi, 6 Jamie Gibson, 5 Graham Kitchener, 4 Brad Thorn, 3 Fraser Balmain, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Marcos Ayerza.

Replacements: 16 Harry Thacker, 17 Michele Rizzo, 18 Tiziano Pasquali, 19 Sebastian De Chaves, 20 Robert Barbieri, 21 David Mele, 22 Freddie Burns, 23 Matt Smith.