Toulon canter to a victory over Sharks at home
EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS CUP MATCH REPORT: Sale started the week by losing director of rugby Steve Diamond and ended it with a 26-14 defeat at the hands of Toulon in their Heineken Champions Cup opener.
RC Toulon on the other hand got their Heineken Champions Cup campaign off to the perfect start as they cruised to a win at home at Stade Felix Mayol.
Louis Carbonel – who won Heineken Star of the Match – racked up 16 points from the kicking tee in a composed display from fly-half.
Carbonel opened the scoring after just over twenty minutes, slotting over a simple three-pointer as Sale were penalised inside their own 22.
He then added three more with a penalty before setting up Toulon’s first try, kicking an inch-perfect chip and reading the bounce before getting the pass away to Gabin Villiere who was able to step inside and cross the whitewash.
That put Toulon 13 points clear and it soon became 19 when Carbonel added successful penalty kicks either side of half-time.
And the match was put beyond doubt when Sergio Parisse looked set to go across himself but was tackled before playing a miracle offload back across to Ramiro Moyano who collected and swivelled before dotting down.
Sale did show some fight and got back into the match with two consolation tries from first Marland Yarde and then James Phillips crashing over at the posts but it was too late as Toulon secured four points, with the English side failing to secure a bonus point.
Toulon will travel to face Scarlets next week, whilst Sale Sharks will host Edinburgh Rugby.
The scorers
For Toulon:
Tries: Villière, Moyano Joya
Con: Carbonel 2
Pens: Carbonel 4
For Sale Sharks
Tries: Yarde, Phillips
Cons: MacGinty 2
Pens:
Teams
RC Toulon: 15 Duncan Paia’aua, 14 Ramiro Moyano Joya, 13 Isaiah Toeava, 12 Ma’a Nonu, 11 Gabin Villière, 10 Louis Carbonel, 9 Baptiste Serin, 8 Sergio Parisse (captain), 7 Raphael Lakafia, 6 Swan Rebbadj, 5 Brian Alainu’uese, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Emerick Setiano, 2 Anthony Etrillard, 1 Jean Baptiste Gros.
Replacements: 16 Christopher Tolofua, 17 Bruce Devaux, 18 Luka Tchelidze, 19 Romain Taofifenua, 20 Facundo Isa, 21 Simon Moretti, 22 Anthony Meric, 23 Masivesi Dakuwaqa.
Sale Sharks: 15 Luke James, 14 Marland Yarde, 13 Robert du Preez, 12 Sam Hill, 11 Simon Hammersley, 10 AJ MacGinty, 9 Will Cliff, 8 Jean-Luc du Preez, 7 Jono Ross (captain), 6 Jacobus Wiese, 5 James Phillips, 4 Matthew Postlethwaite, 3 Willgriff John, 2 Armand van der Merwe, 1 Bevan Rodd.
Replacements: 16 Curtis Langdon, 17 Ross Harrison, 18 Jake Cooper-Woolley, 19 Sam Dugdale, 20 Ewan Ashman, 21 Faf de Klerk, 22 Sam James, 23 Denny Solomona.
Referee: Frank Murphy (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Thomas Charabas (France), Vincent Blasco Baqué (France)
TMO: Pierre Brousset (France)
Source: @ChampionsCup
