Toulon hold off spirited Wasps
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Toulon will continue their defence of European club rugby's premier crown in a Marseille semifinal showdown with Leinster after beating Wasps 32-18 in front of a typically raucous Stade Felix Mayol crowd.
The star-studded French club, bidding to become the first team to win three successive European Cup titles, had to survive a battling Wasps second half comeback before moving a step closer to another showpiece final.
It took 22 points from the boot of returning hero Frederic Michalak to steer the French champions into the last four, the international flyhalf only just registered for the tournament after recovering from injury.
With Leigh Halfpenny ruled out and Matt Giteau returning to the bench, Toulon were looking for someone to kick their goals and he landed six penalties and two conversions.
That punished Wasps for their ill discipline, especially in the first half when five Michalak penalties and a conversion of Matthew Bastareaud's fifth minute try gave the home side's a commanding 22-6 interval lead.
Wasps coach Dai Young claimed after the game his side had "shown too much respect to Toulon in the first half," but it was a different story after the break.
England hopefuls Joe Simpson and Elliot Daly got the Wasps backline moving and the visitors managed to outscore Toulon 2-1 in ties and 12-10 on points in the second period.
Both tries went to Tongan wing Willie Helu and replacement Andy Goode converted one of them to bring Wasps back to within a score with eight minutes to go.
At that stage anything was possible and livewire Simpson almost grabbed a third sensational score.
But Toulon kept their composure, as befits the reigning champions of France and Europe, and a corner flop over by Ali Williams made the game safe with four minutes to go and ensured that clash with former triple champions Leinster at the Stade Velodrome.
Man of the match: Frederic Michalak was incredibly composed and metronomic in his kicking while Steffon Armitage was busy as always. For the Wasps, William Helu's brace proved his finishing abilities, but it was the running and evasiveness of Elliot Daly that really impressed.
Scorers:
For Toulon:
Tries: Bastareaud, Williams
Cons: Michalak 2
Pens: Michalak 6
For Wasps:
Tries: Helu 2
Con: Goode
Pens: Lozowski 2
Teams:
Toulon: 15 Delon Armitage, 14 Josua Tuisova, 13 Mathieu Bastareaud, 12 Maxime Mermoz, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Frederic Michalak, 9 Sebastien Tillous-Borde, 8 Chris Masoe, 7 Steffon Armitage, 6 Mamuka Gorgodze, 5 Ali Williams, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 Carl Hayman (captain), 2 Guilhem Guirado, 1 Alexandre Menini.
Replacements: 16 Jean-Charles Orioli, 17 Xavier Chiocci, 18 Levan Chilachava, 19 Juan Fernandez Lobbe, 20 Rudi Wulf, 21 Matt Giteau, 22 Michael Claassens, 23 Jocelino Suta.
Wasps: 15 Rob Miller, 14 William Helu, 13 Elliot Daly, 12 Andrea Masi, 11 Tom Varndell, 10 Alex Lozowski, 9 Joe Simpson, 8 Guy Thompson, 7 James Haskell (captain), 6 Ashley Johnson, 5 Kearnan Myall, 4 Bradley Davies, 3 Lorenzo Cittadini, 2 Edd Shervington, 1 Matt Mullan.
Replacements: 16 Carlo Festuccia, 17 Simon McIntyre, 18 Jake Cooper-Woolley, 19 James Gaskell, 20 Thomas Young, 21 Charlie Davies, 22 Andy Goode, 23 Alapati Leiua.
Referee: George Clancy (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Dudley Phillips (Ireland), Gary Conwan
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