Toulon leave it late against Edinburgh, Dragons topple Perpignan

WRAP: Edinburgh suffered a 17-27 defeat against Toulon in their Challenge Cup opener as Melvyn Jaminet scored 22 points for the French visitors.

Defences were on top in the first half at the Hive Stadium as two Jaminet penalties to one from James Grayson gave Toulon a 6-3 interval advantage.

Jaminet collected his own kick to extend Toulon’s lead three minutes after the break and converted his own try.

Scotland hooker Ewan Ashman replied immediately with a try, and Grayson added the extras, but Fiji international Seta Tuicuvu soon barged over, and Jaminet was on target again.

Edinburgh fought back again as replacement Geordie Gwynn scored with his first touch and Grayson converted, but Toulon – and Jaminet – had the final word.

Baptiste Serin set up another Jaminet seven-pointer, and Piers O’Conor’s yellow card for making direct contact with the head of Jeremy Sinzelle sealed Edinburgh’s fate.

Continues below…

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Down at Rodney Parade, last season’s runners-up the Dragons started their campaign with a solid 29-14 win over Perpignan.

The hosts were on the scoreboard as soon as the fourth minute when winger Jared Rosser crossed the line.

It took 25 minutes before the next score occurred when Perpignan struck back through Jules Coulon, with Tristan Tedder’s conversion ensuring the visitors went into the lead at halftime.

The second half was all Dragons. Aueurin Owen crossed the whitewash in the 55th minute before Posolo Tuilagi responded for the visitors six minutes later, which saw their last score recorded for the evening.

Tinus de Beer kicked a 64th-minute penalty to get the Dragons back in the lead by 15-14 before two late scores by replacements Anzelo Tuitavuki and Fetuli Paea sealed the deal, with De Beer slotting all but one of his conversion kicks on the evening.

*See the scores and scorers below!

Edinburgh 17-27 Toulon

Scorers:

For Edinburgh:
Tries: Ashman, Gwynn
Cons: Grayson 2
Pen: Grayson

For Toulon:
Tries: Jaminet 2, Tuicuvu
Cons: Jaminet 3
Pens: Jaminet 3

Yellow card: Piers O’Conor (Edinburgh, 65′)

Teams:

Edinburgh: 15 Piers O’Conor; 14 Darcy Graham, 13 Matt Currie (co-captain), 12 Mosese Tuipulotu, 11 Malelili Satala; 10 James Grayson, 9 Hector Patterson; 8 Magnus Bradbury (co-captain), 7 Freddy Douglas, 6 Tom Currie, 5 Glen Young, 4 Callum Hunter-Hill, 3 Ollie Blyth-Lafferty, 2 Ewan Ashman, 1 Pierre Schoeman
Replacements: 16 Jerry Blyth-Lafferty, 17 Jamie Stewart, 18 Paul Hill, 19 Grant Gilchrist, 20 Euan McVie, 21 Conor McAlpine, 22 Geordie Gwynn, 23 Rory McHaffie

Toulon: 15 Melvyn Jaminet; 14 Setariki Tuicuvu, 13 Antoine Frisch, 12 Jérémy Sinzelle, 11 Apete Narogo; 10 Matéo Garcia, 9 Ben White (captain); 8. Patrick Tuifua, 7 Esteban Abadie, 6 Zach Mercer, 5 Corentin Mezou, 4 Swan Rebbadj, 3. Beka Gigashvili, 2 Gianmarco Lucchesi, 1 Jean-Baptiste Gros
Replacements: 16 Teddy Baubigny, 17 Samuel Jean-Christophe, 18 Owen Sorhaindo, 19 Luciano Asevedo, 20 Lewis Ludlam, 21 Joe Quere Karaba, 22 Baptiste Serin, 23 Luka Keletaona.

Referee: Ben Breakspear
Assistant Referees: Carwyn Sion, Lloyd Edwards
TMO: Dan Jones

Dragons 29-14 Perpignan

Scorers:

For Dragons:
Tries: Rosser, Owen, Tuitavuki, Paea
Cons: De Beer 3
Pen: De Beer

For Perpignan:
Tries: Coulon, Tuilagi
Cons: Tedder 2

Teams:

Dragons RFC: 15 Tinus de Beer, 14 Rio Dyer, 13 Fine Inisi, 12 Aneurin Owen, 11 Jared Rosser, 10 Jac Lloyd, 9 Che Hope, 8 Harri Keddie, 7 Harry Beddall, 6 Shane Lewis-Hughes, 5 Ben Carter (captain), 4 Barny Langton-Cryer, 3 Owain James, 2 Brodie Coghtan, 1 Rhodri Jones
Replacements: 16 Elliot Dee, 17 Wyn Jones, 18 Dillon Lewis, 19 Matthew Screech, 20 Evan Minto, 21 Rhodri Williams, 22 Fetuli Paea, 23 Anzelo Tuitavuki

USAP: 15 Tristan Tedder, 14 Seta Toganiyadrava, 13 Sevu Reece, 12 Jeronimo de la Fuente (captain), 11 Maxim Granell, 10 Jake McIntyer, 9 Luke McGrath, 8 Adnro Dvali, 7 Jules Coulon, 6 Jaco van Tonder, 5 Mathieu Tanguy, 4 Bastien Chinarro, 3 Marco Riccioni, 2 Sama Malolo, 1 Lorencio Boyer-Gallardo
Replacements: 16 Mathys Lotrian, 17 Giorgi Tetrashvili, 18 Brad Amituanai, 19 Lucas Velarte, 20 Simon Taty, 21 Posolo Tuilagi, 22 Antoine Aucagne, 23 Diego Mascarenc

Referee: Hanru van Rooyen
Assistant Referees: Alex Thomas, Hamish Grant
TMO: David Rose