Toulon see off Zebre for home play-off
CHALLENGE CUP REPORT: RC Toulon secured a home tie in the EPCR Challenge Cup Round of 16 as they eased to a 14-5 victory over Zebre Parma at the Stade Félix Mayol on Friday.
It was Toulon’s fourth win from four in Pool A, with last season’s finalists picking up 19 points from a maximum of 20 in an impressive campaign so far.
Toulon wouldn’t notch until the half-hour mark in the Round Four contest, earning a penalty try as a driving maul was illegally brought down, which also saw Zebre’s Guido Volpi shown a yellow card.
It wasn’t until the ninth minute of that sin bin that Toulon would strike again, Jiuta Wainiqolo producing a stunning individual try as he finished from halfway, Ihaia West adding the extras.
There would be no further score until 78 minutes, when Taina Fox-Matamua crossed to see Zebre end their campaign on a minor positive, though they exit the competition amid four straight defeats.
The scorers:
For Toulon:
Tries: Penalty try, Wainiqolo
Con: West
For Zebre:
Try: Fox-Matamua
Yellow card: Guido Volpi (Zebre, 31′)
Teams:
Toulon: 15 Marius Domon, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Waisea Vuidravuwalu, 12 Duncan Paia’aua, 11 Jiuta Naqoli Wainiqolo, 10 Ihaia West, 9 Baptiste Serin, 8 Sergio Parisse (captain), 7 Jules Coulon, 6 Mattéo Le Corvec, 5 Brian Alainu’uese, 4 Swan Rebbadj, 3 Beka Gigashvili, 2 Teddy Baubigny, 1 Dany Priso.
Replacements: 16 Christopher Tolofua, 17 Bruce Devaux, 18 Davit Mtchedlidze, 19 Matthias Halagahu, 20 Raphael Lakafia, 21 Benoit Paillaugue, 22 Dan Biggar, 23 Gervais Cordin.
Zebre Parma: 15 Geronimo Prisciantelli, 14 Kobus van Wyk, 13 Erich Cronjé, 12 Enrico Lucchin (captain), 11 Jacopo Trulla, 10 Tiff Eden, 9 Alessandro Fusco, 8 Taina Fox-Matamua, 7 Matt Kvesic, 6 Guido Volpi, 5 Josh Furno, 4 Jan Uys, 3 Muhamed Hasa, 2 Marco Manfredi, 1 Paolo Buonfiglio.
Replacements: 16 Giampietro Ribaldi, 17 Alessio Sanavia, 18 Ion Neculai, 19 Leonard Krumov, 20 Giovanni Licata, 21 Chris Cook, 22 Franco Smith Jr, 23 Luca Andreani.
Referee: Hollie Davidson (Scotland)
Assistant Referees: Dave Sutherland (Scotland), Ross Mabon (Scotland)
TMO: Ben Blain (Scotland)
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