RC Toulon book their spot in the quarter-finals after a dramatic 28-27 win over the DHL Stormers at Stade Mayol.
It was a quick start for RC Toulon when Ben White went over after just eight minutes to take an early lead of 07-00 after eight minutes of play in the first half.
The hosts’ quick ball ended up finding its way to the prolific Gaël Dréan on the wing, who cut inside to offload to scrum-half White for the easiest of finishes.
Jurie Matthee converted a penalty to cut Toulon’s lead to 07-03.
This appeared to tighten the Stormers' defensive screws as the visitors grew into the half. While they had done some valuable work to break into the Toulon 22, it was an aerial error which ultimately saw them in for their first score, which Adré Smith gladly ran in, to lead 10-07 after twenty-four minutes of play in the first half.
The physicality ramped up as Stormers defended their 5-metre line from repeated Toulon phases, but the Toulon pressure proved too much when Dréan found space to go through on the half-hour mark, extending Toulon’s lead to 14-10.
There was just one point separating the two at the break as a Jurie Matthee penalty cut Toulon’s lead to 14-13, which was the halftime score.
Both sides’ lines remained watertight immediately after the restart, but the introduction of Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu helped find gaps for the Stormers.
The Investec Player of the Year nominee kicked a deft through ball which gifted the South Africans valuable territory. Evan Roos was the one to eventually bundle it over after a few phases. The Stormers led 20-14 after thirteen minutes of play in the second half.
Mathis Ferté found space on the open side soon after to hand Toulon a one-point lead and set up some tense final stages.
Setariki Tuicuvu added another try 13 minutes from time and gave the hosts valuable breathing space, leading 28-20.
The hosts had to fend off phase after phase in the final five minutes, but some excellent work at the breakdown saw them hold out, even despite a very late Imad Khan try. Toulon won 28-27.
Scorers:
RC Toulon: Tries: Ben White, Gaël Drean, Mathis Ferte, Setariki Tuicuvu. Conversions: Marius Domon, Tomas Albornoz (3).
DHL Stormers: Tries: Adre Smith, Evan Roos, Imad Khan. Conversions: Jurie Matthee, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (2). Penalties: Jurie Matthee (2).
Teams
RC Toulon: 15 Marius Domon, 14 Gaël Drean, 13 Nacho Brex, 12 Antoine Frisch, 11 Setariki Tuicuvu, 10 Tomas Albornoz, 9 Ben White, 8 Mikheil Shioshvili, 7 Charles Ollivon (c), 6 Junior Kpoku, 5 David Ribbans (c), 4 Corentin Mezou, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 2 Teddy Baubigny, 1 Jean-Baptiste Gros. Replacements: 16 Gianmarco Lucchesi, 17 Dany Priso, 18 Beka Gigashvili, 19 Giorgi Javakhia, 20 Matthias Halagahu, 21 Zach Mercer, 22 Mathis Ferte, 23 Ma’a Nonu.
DHL Stormers: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Damian Willemse, 13 Ruhan Nel (c), 12 Dan du Plessis, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Jurie Matthee, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Hacjivah Dayimani, 6 Paul de Villiers, 5 Connor Evans, 4 Adré Smith, 3 Neethling Fouché, 2 André-Hugo Venter, 1 Oli Kebble. Replacements: 16 Deon Fourie, 17 Ntuthuko Mchunu, 18 Zachary Porthen, 19 JD Schickerling, 20 Marcel Theunissen, 21 Imad Khan, 22 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 23 Wandisile Simelane.