Two try Steffon seal it for Toulon

It came courtesy of two tries from England back row man Steffon Armitage, as they condemned another triple winner, Leinster, to a third successive loss with a 24-9 victory at Stade Mayol.

The home side had been put to the sword by Wasps at the Ricoh Arena in the opening game of their latest defence of the title, but they extended their unbeaten home record to 16 games in the tournament with a hard-fought victory.

Leinster arrived knowing that a third consecutive win in Pool 1 would end any hopes of reaching the last eight and they didn't help themselves by having three forwards sent to the sin-bin. Steffon Armitage scored both tries for the home side from driving line-outs.

The home side, chasing a fourth successive title, paraded their latest big name signing, All Black World Cup winner Ma'a Nonu, for the first time in Europe and they were looking to pick themselves up from their heavy defeat by Wasps in Coventry in Round Two.

The visitors were given the perfect start when former Saracens and England prop Matt Stevens collapsed the first scrum and Jonny Sexton hit the target from near the half-way line after only three minutes.

Early indiscretions by the champions allowed Leinster to build an advantage and Sexton doubled the lead with is second penalty in the sixth penalty after the home side had gone over the top at a ruck. But if the signs were encouraging for Leo Cullen's side, they got a reminder of Toulon's power 10 minute into the game.

Having ignored a kickable penalty shot, and instead kicked into the right corner, they turned a line-out take by Samu Manoa into an unstoppable driving maul which resulted in Steffon Armitage crossing for a try which scrumhalf Eric Escande improved.

Escande then kicked a penalty to make it 10-6, but Seton replied to make it a one point game at the end of the first half.

Leinster survived 10 minutes without prop Cian Healy, who was sent to the sin-bin for a reckless challenge on Guilhem Guirado at a ruck, but it was a different story when Devin Toner followed him to the touchline six minutes into the second half.

This time Escande was able to add two more penalties to his tally and by the time the towering Ireland lock returned the home side had moved into a 16-9 lead.

There was one more penalty from the boot of the scrumhalf in the 67th minute which cruelly took away from the visitors any hopes of salvaging a losing bonus point.

Replacement lock Tom Denton became the third Leinster forward to be shown a yellow card and no sooner had he gone off than Toulon scored another driving line-out try from Steffon Armitage.

The scorers:

For Toulon:

Tries: Armitage 2

Con: Escande

Pens: Escande 4

For Leinster:

Pens: Sexton 3

Yellow cards: Cian Healy (Leinster, 25 – foul play, dangerous charge at ruck), Devin Toner (Leinster, 46 – repeated infringements, offside at ruck), Tom Denton (Leinster, 79 – repeated infringements, playing the ball on the ground)

Teams:

Toulon: 15 Delon Armitage, 14 Bryan Habana, 13 Mathieu Bastareaud, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Matt Giteau, 9 Eric Escande, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Steffon Armitage, 6 Mamuka Gorgodze, 5 Romain Taofifenua, 4 Samu Manoa, 3 Matt Stevens, 2 Guilhem Guirado, 1 Florian Fresia.

Replacements: 16 Anthony Etrillard, 17 Xavier Chiocci, 18 Levan Chilachava, 19 Juan Smith, 20 Tom Taylor, 21 Maxime Mermoz, 22 Anthony Méric, 23 Jocelino Suta.

Leinster: 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Fergus McFadden, 13 Ben Te'o, 12 Luke Fitzgerald, 11 Isa Nacewa (captain), 10 Johnny Sexton, 9 Isaac Boss, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Rhys Ruddock, 5 Mike McCarthy, 4 Devin Toner, 3 Mike Ross, 2 Richardt Strauss, 1 Cian Healy.

Replacements: 16 Sean Cronin, 17 Jack McGrath, 18 Marty Moore, 19 Tom Denton, 20 Jordi Murphy, 21 Eoin Reddan, 22 Ian Madigan, 23 Dave Kearney.

Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)

Assistant referees: Gwyn Morris (Wales), Wayne Davies (Wales)

TMO: Derek Bevan (Wales)

Source: @ChampionsCup