Tigers end Toulon's streak

Leicester Tigers inflicted the first defeat on champions Toulon in the European Cup for more than a year with a 25-21 success at Welford Road.

The twice former winners and five-time finalists had to dig deep to hold off the winners from the last two seasons despite being outscored two tries to one.

Their losing bonus point kept Toulon top of Pool Three despite tasting defeat in the competition for the first time since a 19-15 reverse at Cardiff Blues in October last year.

Leicester are second a point behind with Ulster two points further back, whilst Scarlets are bottom.

World Cup winning New Zealander Brad Thorn crossed the whitewash for Leicester, for whom Welsh flyhalf Owen Williams, surprisingly picked ahead of Freddie Burns, scored 20 points.

Tries from another World Cup winner, Bryan Habana, and former Wallaby Drew Mitchell weren't enough to earn Toulon a victory.

After opening the scoring on 10 minutes with a penalty, Williams was gifted the chance to add a second when former Tiger Martin Castrogiovanni's excessive aggression at a ruck saw a penalty for Toulon overturned in Leicester's favour.

The hosts extended their lead on 19 minutes after Australian wing Mitchell fumbled following Mathew Tait's long kick forwards and Tom Youngs scooped up the ball before offloading to 39-year-old Thorn to barge over, with Williams adding the extras for a 13-0 lead.

Argentina flyhalf Nicolas Sanchez landed two penalties to bring the champions back into contention but five minutes before the break Williams threw a loose pass that was picked off by South Africa flyer Habana, who ran the ball back 60 yards to score.

Sanchez converted and Toulon, despite being mostly dominated throughout the half, went into the break level at 13-13.

Williams kicked Tigers back into the lead early in the second half after Toulon were penalised at a scrum.

But the champions won a Leicester scrum on the English team's 22 and scrum-half Sebastien Tillous-Borde darted down the blind side before putting in Mitchell to dot down.

Despite that setback, Leicester, with Dan Cole back after his injury problems earlier in the season, were getting a lot of enjoyment at the scrum.

Two more Williams penalties gave Leicester a four-point advantage with 15 minutes to play.

A Sanchez penalty 10 minutes from time made it a one-point game but Toulon simply couldn't apply any sustained pressure, or get their hands on the ball deep into Tiger territory and Williams had the last word.

Earlier, two-time champions Wasps roared back into contention for a quarterfinal place with a bonus point 32-17 win away at ailing French side Castres.

But Harlequins took control of Pool Two with a 24-18 victory over three-time champions Leinster in London.

That put them clear on top with 12 points, three ahead of the Irish, who took a losing bonus point, while Wasps are another two points further back.

Wasps scored four tries to earn a bonus point, their third in three European games this season.

"This pool is very, very difficult. We've got a long way to go before we worry about qualifying," said head coach Dai Young.

Wasps got off to a dream start as fullback Rob Miller touched down in the fourth minute but Castres hit back almost immediately as hooker Mathieu Bonnello went over.

Ashley Johnson's quick hands set up Wasps' Kiwi No.8 Nathan Hughes for another try but centre Remi Lamerat's try made it 15-14 at the break.

Wasps scored a penalty try as Sitiveni Sivivatu was controversially yellow carded for denying Tom Varndell a score with a high tackle before Sailosi Tagicakibau rounded off the try-scoring against 14 men.

At the Twickenham Stoop, Quins scored the only two tries through No.8 Nick Easter and a 90-yard interception return from Asaeli Tikoirotuma.

Flyhalf Ian Madigan scored all Leinster's points with the boot as the Irish side failed to turn second half possession and territorial domination into tries.

"We've not hit our straps but it's only half-time in Europe," said Quins coach and former Leinster player Conor O'Shea.

"It's a great start, we know what's coming next week (at Leinster). They're a great side so I'm really proud."

In Pool Four, record four-time champions Toulouse took over top spot from Glasgow by beating the Scottish side 19-11 in the south of France.

All of Sunday's scores and scorers:

Wasps 32-17 Castres

The scorers:

For Castres:

Tries: Bonello, Lamerat

Cons: Kockott 2

Pen: Dumora

For Wasps:

Tries: Miller, Hughes, Penalty try, Tagicakibau

Cons: Goode 3

Pens: Goode 2

Teams:

Castres: 15 Julien Dumora, 14 Sitiveni Sivivatu, 13 Thomas Combezou, 12 Remi Lamerat, 11 Remi Grosso, 10 Daniel Kirkpatrick, 9 Rory Kockott, 8 Johnnie Beattie, 7 Yannick Caballero (captain), 6 Ibrahim Diarra, 5 Benjamin Desroche, 4 Piula Faasalele, 3 Yohan Montes, 2 Mathieu Bonello, 1 Saimone Taumoepeau.

Replacements:16 Marc-Antoine Rallier, 17 Florian Houerie, 18 Ramiro Herrera, 19 Victor Moreaux, 20 Mathieu Babillot, 21 Romain Martial, 22 Max Evans, 23 Cedric Garcia.

Wasps: 15 Rob Miller, 14 Sailosi Tagicakibau, 13 Ben Jacobs, 12 Alapati Leiua, 11 Tom Varndell, 10 Andy Goode, 9 Charlie Davies, 8 Nathan Hughes, 7 James Haskell (captain), 6 Ashley Johnson, 5 Kearnan Myall, 4 Bradley Davies, 3 Lorenzo Cittadini, 2 Edd Shervington, 1 Matt Mullan.

Replacements: 16 Tom Lindsay, 17 Simon McIntyre, 18 Jake Cooper-Woolley, 19 James Gaskell, 20 Guy Thompson, 21 Tom Bliss, 22 Alex Lozowski, 23 Andrea Masi.

Referee: George Clancy (Ireland)

Assistant referees: Mark Patton (Ireland), Barrie O'Connell (Ireland)

TMO: Marshall Kilgore (Ireland)

Harlequins 24-18 Leinster

The scorers:

For Harlequins:

Tries: Easter, Tikoirotuma

Cons: Swiel

Pens: Evans, Swiel 2

DG: Care

For Leinster:

Pens: Madigan 6

Harlequins: 15 Mike Brown, 14 Marland Yarde, 13 Matt Hopper, 12 George Lowe, 11 Aseli Tikoirotuma, 10 Nick Evans, 9 Danny Care, 8 Nick Easter 7 Chris Robshaw, 6 Luke Wallace, 5 George Robson, 4 Charlie Matthews, 3 Will Collier, 2 Dave Ward, 1 Joe Marler (captain).

Replacements: 16 Joe Gray, 17 Mark Lambert, 18 Kyle Sinckler, 19 Sam Twomey, 20 Jack Clifford, 21 Karl Dickson, 22 Tim Swiel, 23 Tom Casson.

Leinster: 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Darragh Fanning, 13 Gordon D'Arcy, 12 Ian Madigan, 11 Luke Fitzgerald, 10 Jimmy Gopperth, 9 Eoin Reddan, 8 Jamie Heaslip (captain) 7 Jordi Murphy, 6 Rhys Ruddock, 5 Mike McCarthy, 4 Devin Toner, 3 Mike Ross, 2 Sean Cronin, 1 Jack McGrath.

Replacements: 16 Bryan Byrne, 17 Michael Bent, 18 Tadhg Furlong, 19 Kane Douglas, 20 Jack Conan, 21 Isaac Boss, 22 Noel Reid, 23 Zane Kirchner.

Referee: Jérôme Garcès (France)

Assistant referees: Maxime Chalon (France), Patrick Péchambert (France)

TMO: Philippe Bonhoure (France)

Toulouse 19-11 Glasgow Warriors

The scorers:

For Toulouse:

Try: Médard

Cons: Bezy

Pens: Bezy 4

For Glasgow Warriors:

Try: Matawalu

Pens: Russell 2

Toulouse: 15 Clément Poitrenaud, 14 Vincent Clerc, 13 Yann David, 12 Gaël Fickou, 11 Maxime Médard, 10 Jean-Marc Doussain, 9 Sébastien Bézy, 8 Louis Picamoles, 7 Imanol Harinordoquy, 6 Yannick Nyanga (captain), 5 Yoann Maestri, 4 Joe Tekori, 3 Census Johnston, 2 Corey Flynn, 1 Vasil Kakovin.

Replacements: 16 Julien Marchand, 17 Kisi Pulu, 18 Neemia Tialata, 19 Thierry Dusautoir, 20 Edwin Maka, 21 Jano Vermaak, 22 Florian Fritz, 23 Yoann Huget.

Glasgow Warriors: 15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Sean Maitland, 13 Alex Dunbar, 12 Peter Horne, 11 Tommy Seymour, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Henry Pyrgos, 8 Josh Strauss (captain), 7 Chris Fusaro, 6 Robert Harley, 5 Jonny Gray, 4 Leone Nakarawa, 3 Jon Welsh, 2 Pat MacArthur, 1 Ryan Grant.

Replacements: 16 Fraser Brown, 17 Gordon Reid, 18 Rossouw de Klerk, 19 Tim Swinson, 20 Ryan Wilson, 21 Niko Matawalu, 22 Duncan Weir, 23 Richie Vernon.  

Referee: John Lacey (Ireland)

Assistant referees: Sean Gallagher (Ireland), Brian MacNeice (Ireland)

TMO: Dermot Moloney (Ireland)

Leicester Tigers 25-21 Toulon

The scorers:

For Leicester Tigers:

Try: Thorn

Con: Williams

Pens: Williams 6

For Toulon:

Tries: Habana, Mitchell

Con: Sanchez

Pens: Sanchez 3

Leicester Tigers: 15 Matthew Tait, 14 Blaine Scully, 13 Matt Smith, 12 Anthony Allen, 11 Vereniki Goneva, 10 Owen Williams, 9 Ben Youngs (captain), 8 Jordan Crane, 7 Julian Salvi, 6 Jamie Gibson, 5 Graham Kitchener, 4 Brad Thorn, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Tom Youngs, 1 Marcos Ayerza.

Replacements: 16 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 17 Michele Rizzo, 18 Fraser Balmain, 19 Geoff Parling, 20 Robert Barbieri, 21 Sam Harrison, 22 Freddie Burns, 23 Miles Benjamin.

Toulon: 15 Delon Armitage, 14 Drew Mitchell, 13 Mathieu Bastareaud, 12 Maxime Mermoz, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Nicolas Sanchez, 9 Sebastien Tillous-Borde, 8 Chris Masoe (captain), 7 Steffon Armitage, 6 Mamuka Gorgodze, 5 Ali Williams, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Guilhem Guirado, 1 Xavier Chiocci.

Replacements: 16 Jean-Charles Orioli, 17 Florian Fresia, 18 Carl Hayman, 19 Juan Smith, 20 Rudi Wulf, 21 Jocelino Suta, 22 Eric Escande, 23 Romain Taofifenua.