Mitchell saves the day for Toulon
With time up, Toulon trailed Wasps 8-11 and faced the prospect of needing to win away to Bath next weekend in their final pool match and rely on other results going their way to reach the quarterfinals.
But Mitchell's try, thanks to a perfectly weighted pass from New Zealand legend Ma'a Nonu, gave the reigning three-time champions a crucial 15-11 victory that put them top of Pool Five above Wasps, who lost for the second time in this year's competition to a try after the buzzer.
Until Mitchell's try, Wasps looked set to join Racing 92, who pounded Welsh side Scarlets 64-14 earlier, Saracens and Leicester in the last eight.
Now Dai Young's side must beat Leinster at home next weekend to go through.
When the two sides met in November, Toulon were unrecognisable and Wasps cruised to a handsome 32-6 thrashing.
It was very different this time around, though, as the European champions dominated the early exchanges.
A desperate last gasp double-tackle from Sailosi Tagicakibau and Joe Simpson prevented Bryan Habana from scoring a certain try in the left corner.
But it was Habana himself who helped create the game's opening try on 12 minutes.
The South Africa wing intercepted the ball inside Toulon's 22 and started a counter-attack that saw Josua Tuisova break down the right wing before passing inside to Quade Cooper to score.
Habana was in the thick of things and it was he who was barged into touch by George Smith after he'd kicked ahead that saw Wasps find themselves down to 14 men as the Australian international flank was sent to the sin bin.
Eric Escande kicked the resulting penalty but Wasps managed their numerical disadvantage expertly, pushing Toulon back inside their own half before earning a kick of their own in front of the posts, which New Zealander Jimmy Gopperth didn't miss.
What had made the difference in the first half, though, was Wasps' 16 missed tackles to just five from Toulon, who led 8-3.
Toulon replacement flyhaf Frederic Michalak missed a simple-looking kick before the hour mark, after which Gopperth reduced the arrears with his own successful attempt.
Michalak missed another kick before Wasps struck with brutal efficiency.
Elliot Daly brushed off Nonu in midfield and helped set up Guy Thompson to crash over in the corner, breaking through one tackle, handing off a second tackler and resisting the attentions of two further Toulon players to score.
Wasps looked set for a famous win but Toulon demonstrated why they have ruled Europe for the last three years as Mitchell had the last word.
The scorers:
For Toulon:
Tries: Cooper, Mitchell
Con: Michalak
Pen: Escande
For Wasps:
Try: Thompson
Pens: Gopperth 2
Yellow card: George Smith (Wasps, 22)
Teams:
Toulon: 15 Drew Mitchell, 14 Josua Tuisova, 13 Mathieu Bastareaud, 12 Ma’a Nonu, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Eric Escande, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Steffon Armitage, 6 Juan Smith, 5 Konstantine Mikautadze, 4 Jocelino Suta, 3 Levan Chilachava, 2 Guilhem Guirado, 1 Florian Fresia.
Replacements: 16 Anthony Etrillard, 17 Xavier Chiocci, 18 Manasa Saulo, 19 Mamuka Gorgodze, 20 Frederic Michalak, 21 Maxime Mermoz, 22 Sebastien Tillous-Borde, 23 Thibault Lassale.
Wasps: 15 Charles Piutau, 14 Sailosi Tagicakibau, 13 Elliot Daly, 12 Ben Jacobs, 11 Frank Halai, 10 Jimmy Gopperth, 9 Joe Simpson, 8 Guy Thompson, 7 George Smith, 6 Sam Jones, 5 James Gaskell, 4 Bradley Davies, 3 Lorenzo Cittadini, 2 Edd Shervington, 1 Matt Mullan.
Replacements: 16 Ashley Johnson, 17 Simon McIntyre, 18 Phil Swainston, 19 Kearnan Myall, 20 Thomas Young, 21 Dan Robson, 22 Ruaridh Jackson, 23 Rob Miller.
Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistant Referees: Leighton Hodges (Wales), Wayne Davies (Wales)
TMO: Jonathan Mason (Wales)
Agence France-Presse
