Toulon seal home quarterfinal

Reigning champions RC Toulon secured a home Champions Cup quarterfinal with a comfortable 26-3 triumph at the Scarlets.

The star-studded French side bullied their way into an early lead and never looked in danger of letting it slip in West Wales.

They showed glimpses of their class as an early Mathieu Bastareaud and three Leigh Halfpenny kicks had the game in the bag before Bryan Habana streaked over in the second-half.

Toulon sit second in the Champions Cup seeding heading into the final day of pool action.

The back-to-back European champions showed exactly why they hold the title after just four minutes when outside-half Nicolas Sanchez burst clear from a midfield scrum.

He found Matemini Masoe on the charge and he was stopped just short by a scrambling John Barclay tackle. But their back-row were on the scene like a flash to clear the path for Bastareaud to crash over for the first score.

Halfpenny added another two penalties before Sanchez added an opportunistic drop-goal from 30 metres out to give Toulon a 16-point advantage.

Steve Shingler got three points back from the boot after winning a penalty himself, but that was cancelled out by another Halfpenny penalty to give Toulon a 19-3 half-time lead. But just as they did last week at Leicester, the Scarlets came out with attacking intent.

Regan King's pick-up and pass to Rhys Priestland set the Welsh region off into a rare foray into enemy territory. But Wayne Barnes' whistle blew and Toulon once again marched into the Scarlets half. They won another penalty but Halfpenny proved he was human when his penalty from half-way fell just short.

The French heavyweights then set about decimating the depleted Scarlets pack – with devastating effect. Wayne Pivac's men were awarded a scrum in their own 22, but were brushed aside by the star-studded front-five.

The ball popped out to flyhalf Sanchez and he found Habana, who cut a devastating angle to leave three covering defenders in his wake on the way to the line. Halfpenny found his golden touch once more to convert and give his side an unassailable 26-3 lead with half-an-hour to play.

Scarlets fought back into Toulon's half but could not find the breakthrough moment.

The scorers:

For Scarlets:

Pen: S Shingler

For Toulon:

Tries: Bastareaud, Habana

Cons: Halfpenny 2

Pens: Halfpenny 3

                DG: Sánchez

Yellow card: Jocelino Suta (Toulon, 65)

Teams:

Scarlets: 15 Steven Shingler, 14 Harry Robinson, 13 Regan King, 12 Scott Williams (captain), 11 Hadleigh Parkes, 10 Rhys Priestland, 9 Aled Davies, 8 Rob McCusker, 7 John Barclay, 6 Aaron Shingler, 5 Lewis Rawlins, 4 George Earle, 3 Peter Edwards, 2 Ryan Elias, 1 Rob Evans.

Replacements: 16 Darran Harris, 17 Wyn Jones, 18 Jacobie Adriaanse, 19 Sion Bennett, 20 Rory Pitman, 21 Rhodri Williams, 22 Josh Lewis, 23 Kristian Phillips.

Toulon: 15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Drew Mitchell, 13 Mathieu Bastareaud, 12 Maxime Mermoz, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Nicolás Sánchez, 9 Sébastien Tillous-Borde, 8 Chris Masoe, 7 Steffon Armitage, 6 Juan Smith, 5 Jocelino Suta, 4 Romain Taofifenua, 3 Carl Hayman (captain), 2 Guilhem Guirado, 1 Xavier Chiocci.

Replacements: 16 Jean-Charles Orioli, 17 Alexandre Menini, 18 Martin Castrogiovanni, 19 Mamuka Gorgodze, 20 Juan-Martín Fernández-Lobbe, 21 Rudi Wulf, 22 Eric Escande, 23 Bakkies Botha.

Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)

Assistant referees: Tim Wigglesworth (England), Gareth Copsey (England)

TMO: Rowan Kitt (England)

@EPCRugby