Clermont and Toulon advance to European Final

 

Toulon was on a quest to be the first team to win the European title for the third year in a row.

Leinster had many players who had helped Ireland win Six Nations recently.  They had a fine pedigree playing in the European competition, and were not scared of playing in France either.

Toulon 25 – Leinster 20

The game was as tight as a drum and was tied at 80 minutes, but Bryan Habana broke the game wide open in extra time for Toulon to proceed to the final against Clermont.

Between them, these teams had won the European title five times in the last six years, but neither were impressive in their Quarter-Final victories.

Toulon, the recent European rugby powerhouse and leaders in the Top 14, were favourites over Leinster, who were struggling in the Pro12, but the wet conditions shortened the odds of the Irish team in a two-horse race.

First Half

At seven minutes a scratchy-looking bomb was dropped by Leinster winger Fergus McFadden in his own in-goal, and no. 8 Chris Masoe of Toulon grounded the ball. Try Toulon !! No it wasn’t: he was a couple of metres offside; but 15 Leigh Halfpenny booted a penalty under advantage instead.

Toulon had a bout of poor discipline and by the end of the first quarter they had been pinged for five penalties, compared to only one against Leinster. Ian Madigan goaled three of them for the visitors and they were 9-3 ahead at 20 minutes.

Neither team was perfect but, Leinster was handling the wet conditions better. Their scrum looked on top and Toulon lost some good chances in the Leinster half because of poor lineout work.

Halfpenny got Toulon closer with his second penalty goal, but Leinster would have been happy with a lead of 9-6 at half-time.

Toulon looked rattled but Steffon Armitage had replaced injured 6 Juan Smith and looked like he was making a difference to the French team.

 Steffon Armitage – made a difference for Toulon

 

Second Half

There was more of the same in the second half.

Although he astonished the crowd by missing a penalty goal, Halfpenny was doing good work in defusing some high kicks—and S. Armitage was latching onto Leinster ball like a barnacle.  Toulon was looking better generally, and were playing more in the Leinster half now. As they improved the Marseilles’ crowd got noisier.

At the hour mark the score was Halfpenny 9 – Madigan 9: it wasn’t brilliant rugby but, my word, it was tense. There was drama with every turnover of the ball, and every visit to enemy territory, and every kick and reception.

Penalty goals were swapped and Madigan missed a dropped goal before Toulon winger, Delon Armitage attempted a 55-metre penalty goal to win the game at 80 minutes.

It wasn’t even close,

20 minutes of extra time were to be taken with the score tied at 12-12.

 Ali Williams – got a yellow card for interfering

 

Extra time

Halfpenny goaled a scrum penalty and it was Leinster’s serve, but at 85 minutes Ali Williams of Toulon was caught interfering with Devon Toner at a lineout—with an arm fault—and was given a yellow card.  Harsh !

Madigan slotted the kick to level the scores again, at 15-15; but Halfpenny returned serve: Toulon 18-15.

There was time for one more play before the extra-time break and Bryan Habana intercepted a Leinster pass to score the first try of the game with his team still one man short. Halfpenny converted for Toulon for them to lead Leinster 25-15 with ten minutes remaining.

The Leinster players looked like toys that had just been wound up and 7 Sean O’Brien scored from a maul drive: 25-20. The conversion would mean that a penalty in the last five minutes would tie the game; better still, a second try could win the semi on a count-back: it wouldn’t have to be converted.

But Madigan missed the conversion—and nobody scored no more tries, nohow.

Toulon won 25-20 and squeezed into the final against Clermont.

 Brothers in arms – Delon and Steffon Armitage

 

The Wrap Up

Leinster played their best rugby in extra time, but for one poor pass—had they shown the same endeavour in the first 80 minutes they could have won the game. They played the conditions better than Toulon in the main but like Saracens the day before, they lacked rainmakers capable of delivering a master stroke.

Toulon did not play the conditions well and their galacticos looked more like Clark Kent than Superman. But money used in acquiring a star goal kicker and brilliant finisher was well spent.

They will have to play better at Twickenham in the final against Clermont because the Yellow Peril has some goodish players themselves.

 

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[one_half last=”no”]

The Game Changer

All incidents for the eight penalty goals in the first 80 minutes, and all misses, looked like key moments at the time.

But after O’Brien poached the ball for Leinster in the 90th minute on the halfway line, Madigan floated the ball out wide where his team had numbers. Habana anticipated by sidestepping inwards to intercept the pass, and he scored for Toulon. [/one_half]

[one_half last=”yes”]

The G&GR MOTM

All the back rowers were outstanding, as they had to be on such a day.  Leinster hooker, Cronin, fizzed around everywhere.  Toulon’s Steffon Armitage was notable in his shift.

But the G&GR MOTM goes to Toulon fullback Leigh Halfpenny, who was flawless under the high ball, and kicked all but one of his goals on a day when planting the non-kicking foot was awkward.[/one_half]

 Leigh Halfpenny – man of the match

 

The Details

Score & Scorers

[one_half last=”no”]

Toulon – 25

Try: B. Habana (90)

Conversion: L. Halfpenny (91)

Penalties: L. Halfpenny (3, 29, 55, 67, 83, 89)

[/one_half]

[one_half last=”yes”]

Leinster – 20

Try: S. O’Brien

Penalties: I. Madigan (5, 16, 20, 69, 85)

[/one_half]

[one_half last=”no”]

Cards & Citings

Toulon
A. Williams (85) Lineout

[/one_half]

[one_half last=”yes”]

Crowd

35,000

[/one_half]

Match Details

Toulon: 1. X. Chiocci, 2. G. Guirado, 3. C. Hayman (c), 4. B. Botha, 5. A.Williams, 6. J. Smith, 7. J Fernandez Lobbe, 8. C. Masoe, 9. S.Tillous-Borde, 10. F. Michalak, 11. B. Habana, 12. M. Giteau, 13. M. Bastareaud, 14. D. Armitage, 15. L. Halfpenny.

Replacements: 16. JC Orioli, 17. A. Menini, 18. L. Chilachava, 19. S. Armitage, 20. D. Mitchell, 21. R. Wulf, 22. M. Claassens, 23. J. Suta.

Leinster: 1. C. Healy, 2. S. Cronin, 3. M. Ross, 4. D. Toner, 5. M. McCarthy, 6. J. Murphy, 7. S. O’Brien, 8. J. Heaslip (c), 9. I. Boss, 10. J. Gopperth, 11. L. Fitzgerald, 12. I. Madigan, 13. B. Te’o, 14. F. McFadden,15. R. Kearney.

Replacements: 16. R. Strauss, 17. J. McGrath, 18. M. Moore, 19. B. Marshall, 20. D.Ryan, 21. E. Reddan, 22. G. D’Arcy, 23. Z. Kirchner.

Date: Sunday, April 19
Venue: Stade Velodrome, Marseilles
Kick-off: 16:15 local
Referee: Wayne Barnes (Eng)
Assistant Referees: Nigel Owens (Wal), Greg Garner (Eng)
TMO: Graham Hughes (Eng)
.