Tag: Rugby

Castres claimed a 29-25 win over Exeter Chiefs in their Champions Cup clash at Stade Pierre-Fabre despite a first half red card for Maama Vaipulu.

In a topsy-turvy match, filled with drama, Castres had to dig deep after Vaipulu received his marching orders for making contact with the head of Luke Cowan-Dickie with his forearm shortly before half-time.

Despite that setback, the Top 14 champions did well to hold on for the win although they were under the cosh for long periods and the Chiefs eventually outscored them by three tries to two.

The visitors made a terrific start and took the lead in spectacular fashion in the eighth minute via a Santiago Cordero try. This after he set off on a mazy run – in which he beat several defenders – before scoring under the posts.

Gareth Steenson slotted the conversion and five minutes later he added the extras again after Matt Kvesic broke through a maul to score the Chiefs’ second try.

Despite trailing 14-0, the home side did not panic and struck back shortly afterwards when Florian Vialelle dotted down after the ball went through several pairs of hands in the build-up.

Julien Dumora threw the final pass to Vialelle and also added the resulting conversion.

And midway through the half the fly-half succeeded with a penalty which narrowed the gap to four points. Dumora was playing a leading role in his side’s fightback and in the 27th minute he landed a drop goal which meant the Chiefs were now holding a slender 14-13 lead.

And in the 32nd minute, Dumora kicked another penalty before hobbling off with a leg injury.

He was replaced by Yoann Le Bourhis who also added a penalty, shortly after entering the field of play, which gave Castres a 19-14 lead after 35 minutes.

Two minutes later, the game’s complexion changed when Vaipulu was sent off and just before the interval, Steenson crossed for his side’s third try which meant the sides were level at 19-19 at half-time.

Despite their numerical advantage, Castres did not stand back to their opponents and five minutes into the second half, they took the ball through several phases inside Exeter’s half before Steve Mafi glided through a gap to score a deserved try.

Le Bourhis’s conversion meant Castres led 26-19 but Steenson narrowed the gap when he landed a penalty in the 49th minute.

Exeter continued to concede penalties, however, and two minutes later Le Bourhis succeeded with his second three-pointer of the kicking tee although that would be the last time the home side would trouble the scoreboard.

Exeter upped the ante on attack during the rest of the half and another Steenson penalty in the 61st minute meant that Castres were now holding a 29-25 lead. But despite the Chiefs’ forays into the home side’s half, Castres’ defence stood firm and they too continued to attack.

And in the 71st minute, Exeter were dealt a blow when Henry Slade received a yellow card for a push on Vialelle. Le Bourhis missed the resulting penalty but Castres did well to hold on for the win in the game’s closing stages.

The scorers:

For Castres:
Tries: Vialelle, Mafi
Cons: Dumora, Le Bourhis
Pens: Dumora 2, Le Bourhis 2
Drop goal: Dumora
Red Card: Vaipulu

For Exeter Chiefs:
Tries: Cordero, Kvesic, Steenson
Cons: Steenson 2
Pens: Steenson 2
Yellow Card: Slade

Castres: 15 Armand Battle, 14 Martin Laveau, 13 Robert Ebersohn, 12 Florian Vialelle, 11 Taylor Paris, 10 Julien Dumora, 9 Ludovic Radosavljevic, 8 Maama Vaipulu, 7 Baptiste Delaporte, 6 Mathieu Babillot, 5 Loic Jacquet, 4 Steve Mafi, 3 Daniel Kotze, 2 Jody Jenneker, 1 Antoine Tichit
Replacements: 16 Paul Sauzaret, 17 Tudor Stroe, 18 Wilfried Hounkpatin, 19 Victor Moreaux, 20 Alex Tulou, 21 Yoann Le Bourhis, 22 Anthony Combezou, 23 Rory Kockott

Exeter: 15 Phil Dollman, 14 Jack Nowell, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Ian Whitten, 11 Santiago Cordero, 10 Gareth Steenson (c), 9 Stuart Townsend, 8 Tom Lawday, 7 Matt Kvesic, 6 Don Armand, 5 Wilhelm Van Der Slums, 4 Ollie Atkins, 3 Harry Williams, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 1 Ben Moon
Replacements: 16 Jack Yeandle, 17 Alec Hepburn, 18 Tomas Francis, 19 Sean Lonsdale, 20 Toby Salmon, 21 Jack Maunder, 22 Joe Simmonds, 23 Sam Hill

Referee: John Lacey (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Andrew Brace (Ireland), Kieran Barry (Ireland)
Television match official: Simon McDowell (Ireland)

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Munster claimed a comprehensive 36-22 victory over 14-man Gloucester at Thomond Park to go top of Champions Cup Pool 2 after Castres beat Exeter.

It is two-time champions Munster’s first win of the tournament, having drawn 10-10 with Exeter Chiefs in their opener last weekend.

Tries from Mike Haley, Rhys Marshall, Joey Carbery, Sammy Arnold and Andrew Conway proved too much for Gloucester, who scored through Gerbrandt Grobler, Jason Woodward and Ben Morgan.

The men from Limerick were aided by a red card shown to Gloucester fly-half and England snub Danny Cipriani on the half-hour mark, which swayed the momentum in their favour.

Gloucester were temporarily reduced to 14 men in the 16th minute when lock Tom Savage was yellow-carded for an illegal clear-out on Munster centre Dan Goggin.

Soon after, Munster capitalised on their numerical advantage as Haley was able to benefit from the space out wide to dot down. Fly-half Joey Carbery’s kick would just drop wide.

In the 28th minute, the Cherry and Whites would be permanently reduced to 14 men as Cipriani was red-carded for a high hit on Rory Scannell, capping off a bad week for the fly-half which saw him also excluded from the England squad for the November internationals.

Four minutes later, the hosts would once again make the most of the extra man as hooker Rhys Marshall went over at the back of a well-worked driving maul. Carbery added the extras for a 15-3 lead to the home side as the sides headed in to the interval.

The hosts pulled further away ten minutes in to the second half. A well-executed set piece move from an attacking scrum on the Gloucester five metre line saw replacement scrum-half Alby Mathewson use Goggin, who popped the ball to Carbery for the finish.

Replacement Arnold was having an impact and won a penalty at the breakdown before getting himself on the try column for his side’s fourth. Carbery was instrumental in the build-up, showing a lovely behind the back pass for Darren Sweetnam in the earlier phase and providing Arnold with the assist. The fly-half added the extras for a 29-3 lead in the 57th minute.

Soon after, Gloucester hit back with the driving maul through Grobler, who dotted down against his old team. But with ten minutes to go, the home side put the result beyond doubt with Carbery once again the creator for Conway’s try.

Billy Twelvetrees would turn creator, his excellent pass finding Woodward, who would dot down for Gloucester as they clawed back to 36-15 after Twelvetrees’ conversion.

Munster would have to see out the remainder of the game with 13 men after Arnold and Stephen Archer were yellow-carded, while Morgan would score a late consolation try for the Cherry and Whites, but it would have little bearing on the 36-22 home victory in the end.

The scorers:

For Munster:
Tries: Haley, Marshall, Carbery, Arnold, Conway
Cons: Carbery 4
Pen: Carbery
Yellow Cards: Arnold, Archer

For Gloucester:
Tries: Grobler, Woodward, Morgan
Cons: Twelvetrees
Pen: Cipriani
Red Card: Cipriani
Yellow Card: Savage

The teams:

Munster: 15 Mike Haley, 14 Andrew Conway, 13 Dan Goggin, 12 Rory Scannell, 11 Darren Sweetnam, 10 Joey Carbery, 9 Duncan Williams, 8 CJ Stander, 7 Tommy O’Donnell, 6 Peter O’Mahony (c), 5 Tadhg Beirne, 4 Jean Kleyn, 3 John Ryan, 2 Rhys Marshall, 1 James Cronin
Replacements: 16 Kevin O’Byrne, 17 Dave Kilcoyne, 18 Stephen Archer, 19 Billy Holland, 20 Arno Botha, 21 Alby Mathewson, 22 JJ Hanrahan, 23 Sammy Arnold

Gloucester: 15 Jason Woodward 14 Matt Banahan, 13 Billy Twelvetrees, 12 Mark Atkinson, 11 Tom Marshall, 10 Danny Cipriani, 9 Callum Braley, 8 Ben Morgan, 7 Jake Polledri, 6 Freddie Clarke, 5 Ed Slater (c), 4 Tom Savage, 3 Fraser Balmain; 2 Franco Marais, 1 Josh Hohneck
Replacements: 16 Henry Walker, 17 Val Rapava Ruskin, 18 Ciaran Knight, 19 Gerbrandt Grobler, 20 Gareth Evans, 21 Ben Vellacott, 22 Owen Williams, 23 Tom Hudson

Referee: Alexandre Ruiz (France)
Assistant referees: Maxime Chalon (France), Luc Ramos (France)
Television match official: Philippe Bonhoure (France)

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Leicester Tigers interim head coach Geordan Murphy hailed his side’s second half showing in Friday’s 45-27 Champions Cup win over the Scarlets.

The Tigers held a narrow 15-13 lead over the Welsh region at half-time but turned on the style after the break and added 30 points to their tally, although the Scarlets held a 27-25 lead midway through the half.

Leicester’s bonus-point win moves them to the top of Pool Four although that situation will change on Saturday when group rivals Racing 92 and Ulster do battle in Paris.

Murphy was delighted with the way his side fought back after trailing the Scarlets in the second half.

“I think we simplified a few things at half-time,” Murphy told BT Sport after the game.

“We played a little more direct and shortened up ball.

“We wanted to be direct, Jonny (May) ran a good line, we were at the breakdown early, Manu was on form getting a man of the match performance – we didn’t give Scarlets an opportunity to slow us down.

“Scarlets line speed in defence caused problems to us in the first half, we got caught cold a few times, decided to go more direct in the second half and it paid dividends.

“Scarlets play quality rugby, they were always going to test us and we knew we would have to score some tried tonight.”

Murphy was also pleased with Tigers centre Manu Tuilagi’s performance after the England international scored one of his team’s five tries an walked off with the man-of-the-match award after the game.

“He’s been training really well, the scary thing about him is he is only going to get better the more game time he plays,” added Murphy.

“He will grow in confidence and the thing with Manu is he doesn’t have to do anything special – if he does the nuts and bolts well he is a very good centre. I think he’ll get better as he goes.”

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Check out the highlights from Canterbury’s 21-16 win over Tasman in Nelson on Friday and Auckland’s 38-17 triumph against Wellington at Eden Park on Saturday in the semi-finals of the Mitre 10 Cup.

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Bath have called on European Champions Cup organisers to have their game against Toulouse replayed due to “negligence” by the match officials.

The Premiership outfit suffered a 22-20 defeat to the Top 14 side in last Pool 1 opener.

Bath were on course to win the match but for a showboating blunder from Freddie Burns where he failed to ground the ball correctly under the posts.

However, Bath’s owner Bruce Craig’s complaint is focused on two other incidents. The first one involves the referee, Andrew Brace, blowing the final whistle with a few seconds left in the match after Bath won a lineout deep inside Toulouse territory.

Bath insist there was still enough time for the lineout to take place and for them to attempt a winning score.

Their other complaint is that Toulouse duo Jerome Kaino (back-row) and Lucas Pointud (front-row) were both cited after the fixture and suspended by a disciplinary tribunal for foul play.

Bath feel that if the pair been punished properly on the field they would have both received red cards, with the French sife finishing the match with 13 players.

“I think the game should be replayed,” Craig told The Times.

“We will do what we can to get equity.”

Bath have written to the tournament organisers, European Professional Club Rugby [EPCR], and requested a rematch.

“This is the European Cup, there are massive sporting and financial implications,” said Craig.

“Bath have been majorly disadvantaged.

“This isn’t sour grapes, because maybe we wouldn’t have won the game, but that is not the issue.”

Kaino’s hit on Jamie Roberts led to the Bath centre leaving the field. The All Black was yellow carded but he was handed a five-week suspension after a disciplinary hearing earlier this week.

Pointud struck Nathan Catt with a shoulder but remained on the field but received four-week suspension later on.

“There is a player welfare issue here,” said Craig.

“In terms of his gross negligence, the referee is endangering the player.”

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Saracens made it two from two in the Champions Cup thus far with a 29-10 bonus-point victory over Lyon at Allianz Park on Saturday.

As expected, Saracens completely dominated a rather dour encounter, enjoying over 60 percent in both the possession and territorial stakes.

Tries from Maro Itoje, Sean Maitland, Brad Barritt and Alex Lewington proved too much for Lyon, who scored through Virgil Lacombe.

Owen Farrell gave the hosts an early 3-0 lead after Lyon number eight Deon Fourie was penalised for going off his feet at the breakdown.

On the 15-minute mark, Saracens number six Itoje ripped the ball out of the tackle in midfield before having the pace to sprint in under the posts from halfway.

Then after Nick Tompkins had carried the ball up, Alex Goode’s grubber kick through was poorly fumbled by Lyon scrum-half Jean-Marc Doussain, with Maitland pouncing on the loose ball to dot down for the try. Farrell’s conversion made it 17-0 after 20 minutes.

Five minutes after the interval, the home side got up to the five-metre line courtesy of a well-weighted kick in behind the Lyon defence by Maitland. The Lyon scrum held up well, but Saracens would get over via the lineout driving maul, as Barritt emerged from the pile of bodies with the ball.

12 minutes before time, Lyon finally got themselves a try. A quick tap-and-go got Doussain inches short before Lacombe powered over with the pick and go.

Although it was by no means a perfect performance by Saracens, they came away with the full complement of five points after Lewington scored a fantastic try two minutes from time, coming off his wing in a well-worked set-piece move.

It was Lyon lock Felix Lambey’s forward pass that gifted Saracens the opportunity as they secured the bonus-point try for the 29-10 victory.

The scorers:

For Saracens:
Tries: Itoje, Maitland, Barritt, Lewington
Cons: Farrell 3
Pen: Farrell

For Lyon:
Try: Lacombe
Con: Beauxis
Pen: Beauxis

The teams:

Saracens: 15 Alex Goode, 14 Liam Williams, 13 Nick Tompkins, 12 Brad Barritt, 11 Sean Maitland, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Ben Spencer, 8 Jackson Wray, 7 Mike Rhodes, 6 Maro Itoje, 5 George Kruis, 4 Will Skelton, 3 Vincent Koch, 2 Jamie George, 1 Richard Barrington
Replacements: 16 Christopher Tolofua, 17 Hayden Thompson-Stringer, 18 Titi Lamositele, 19 Ben Earl, 20 Schalk Burger, 21 Richard Wigglesworth, 22 Marcelo Bosch, 23 Alex Lewington

Lyon: 15 Jean-Marcellin Buttin, 14 Toby Arnold, 13 Rudi Wulf, 12 Adrien Seguret, 11 Alexis Palisson, 10 Lionel Beauxis, 9 Jean-Marc Doussain, 8 Deon Fourie, 7 Patrick Sobela, 6 Dylan Cretin (c), 5 Etienne Oosthuizen, 4 Felix Lambey, 3 Clément Ric, 2 Jeremie Maurouard, 1 Hamza Kaabèche
Replacements: 16 Virgile Lacombe, 17 Albertus Buckle, 18 Richard Choirat, 19 Francois van der Merwe, 20 Carl Fearns, 21 Pierre-Louis Barassi, 22 Xavier Mignot, 23 Quentin Delord

Referee: George Clancy (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Stuart Gaffikin (Ireland), Paul Haycock (Ireland)
Television match official: Brian MacNeice (Ireland)

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Racing 92 made it two from two against PRO14 opposition as they disposed of Ulster 44-12 in ther Champions Cup encounter in Paris on Saturday.

The Northern Irish resistance didn’t quite match that of the Welsh last week and a bonus point win puts the French outfit in firm control of Pool Four.

The Ulsterman did initially come racing out of the blocks in the French capital and raced out of their 22 in similar fashion to score the game’s first points.

Michael Lowry made the initial break before the recycled ball allowed Will Addison to attack the Racing line and offload for David Shanahan.

A Finn Russell penalty cut the gap to four points but his opposite number Billy Burns kicked two perfectly weighted cross kicks to construct Ulster’s second try. First Craig Gilroy went close before the ball found Burns again who switched the play to Jacob Stockdale on the left and the winger scored to make it 12-3.

The Parisians were suitably shocked into life and 17 points in the final 12 minutes of the half demonstrated their clinical nature. Replacement halfback Teddy Iribaren cleverly let an attacking scrum turn allowing Antonie Claassen to break off and send him over.

Four minutes after Racing came again and, after some initial breaks around the fringes, centre Olivier Klemenczak cut an excellent line and popped the ball to the onrushing Wenceslas Lauret who’s long leavers saw him reach the line. Russell kicked a further penalty to make it 22-12 at the break.

The French side continued the second 40 in the same vain. Klemenczak breaking some weak Ulster tackles once again and had Juan Imhoff as a grateful recipient in support. Russell kicked another conversion and a further penalty to make it 30-12 with 50 minutes gone.

The fourth and decisive score came ten minutes from the end. Russell being his mercurial self off first phase. A Racing scrum on their own 22 left space behind and the Scotsman chipped and gathered his own kick before sending Teddy Thomas racing clear to score the pick of the tries.

Now playing without pressure and knowing their task had been fulfilled the Racingmen exerted true French flair and Simon Zebo scored in the corner after the ball had been shipped wide to round off the scoring.

The scorers:

For Racing 92:
Tries: Iribaren, Lauret, Imhoff, Thomas, Zebo
Cons: Russell 4, Iribaren
Pens: Russell 3

For Ulster:
Tries: Shanahan, Stockdale
Con: Burns
Yellow card: Timoney

Racing 92: 15 Simon Zebo, 14 Teddy Thomas, 13 Olivier Klemenczak, 12 Henry Chavancy (c), 11 Juan Imhoff, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Xavier Chauveau, 8 Antonie Claassen, 7 Bernard Le Roux, 6 Wenceslas Lauret, 5 Leone Nakarawa, 4 Dominic Bird, 3 Cedate Gomes Sa, 2 Camille Chat, 1 Guram Gogichashvili
Replacements: 16 Teddy Baubigny, 17 Vasil Kakovin, 18 Census Johnston, 19 Fabien Sanconnie, 20 Jordan Joseph, 21 Teddy Iribaren, 22 Ben Volavola, 23 Léonard Paris

Ulster: 15 Michael Lowry, 14 Craig Gilroy, 13 Will Addison, 12 Stuart McCloskey, 11 Jacob Stockdale, 10 Billy Burns, 9 David Shanahan 8 Nick Timoney, 7 Jordi Murphy, 6 Marcell Coetzee, 5 Kieran Treadwell, 4 Iain Henderson, 3 Marty Moore, 2 Rory Best (c), 1 Andrew Warwick
Replacements: 16 Adam McBurney, 17 Eric O’Sullivan, 18 Ross Kane, 19 Adam O’Connor, 20 Sean Reidy, 21 James Stewart, 22 Johhny McPhillips, 23 Angus Kernohan

Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistant referees: Dan Jones (Wales), Wayne Davies (Wales)
Television match official: Ian Davies (Wales)

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A sensational performance from SP Marais led Western Province to a 35-32 extra-time win over a valiant Blue Bulls in Saturday’s Currie Cup semi-final at Newland.

After six bonus point wins from six round robin fixtures this year, Western Province came into the match as heavy favourites on home soil. However, they were stunned by the Blue Bulls in the first half. The visitors went into the break having scored the only two tries of the game, although their indiscipline and the boot of Marais had kept WP in it.

WP had the better of the second half, although a late Blue Bulls fightback came within one kick of snatching the game from them. Nevertheless, in extra time, the reigning champions ultimately prevailed.

Marais slotted over two penalties – both for offside play – in the opening 15 minutes of the match to put the hosts in the driving seat early on.

However, they struggled to break through a resilient Bulls defence and were soon made to pay at the other end of the field. A spell of pressure following an attacking scrum culminated in Ruan Steenkamp powering over from a pick-and-go in the 23rd minute.

Five minutes later, a moment of genius led to a second try for the visitors: Divan Rossouw grubbered into space and Manie Libbok raced onto the ball on the right-hand side of the field before passing inside to Duncan Matthews for the finish.

Both tries were converted by Libbok, who also added a penalty kick to the Blue Bulls’ tally before half-time. Meanwhile, WP kept the scoreboard ticking with three more penalties from Marais.

However, after the break, the Blue Bulls were quicker out of the blocks. After they were denied the chance to make up territory from the driving maul at the lineout, the visitors put together a spectacular attacking move, featuring some wonderful hands.

Matthews returned a first-half favour, setting Libbok up for the finish in the 47th minute.

Five minutes later, WP hit back, getting numbers out wide on their left and taking advantage. Dillyn Leyds released a perfectly-timed offload to Marais, allowing him to finish unchallenged.

A scrum penalty kept the scoreboard ticking for the Bulls, but in the 60th minute, WP swung the game in their favour. It all started with an error from an attacking lineout for the visitors, allowing WP to kick and Sergeal Petersen to chase. The wing got to the ball ahead of Rossouw and was dragged down just short of the try-line, allowing Paul de Wet to finish the job and go over.

The Bulls’ indiscipline continued to let them down, as a late tackle from Johnny Kotze allowed Marais’ to stretch Province’s lead to five points in the 63rd minute.

However, the visitors refused to concede defeat. They heaped pressure on John Dobson’s side and won a scrum against the put-in with the clock already in the red. From there, they worked the ball out right to Dylan Sage, who went over the try-line and levelled the scores. Despite having been perfect off the tee until the crucial moment, Libbok was unable to convert and the match went to extra time.

WP were given the chance to get in front in the 10th minute of the additional 20 when Ruan Steenkamp was penalised for an early penalty, but Marais missed for the first time all evening.

However, within two minutes after the second half of extra time got underway, he made amends, nailing a penalty for a high tackle from Hanro Liebenberg.

The kick that took Marais’ personal points tally up to 30 ultimately proved decisive, as WP set up a second successive final date with the Sharks, which will take place at Newlands next Saturday.

The scorers:

For Western Province:
Tries: Marais, de Wet
Cons: Marais 2
Pens: Marais 7

For Blue Bulls:
Tries: Steenkamp, Matthews, Libbok, Sage
Cons: Libbok 3
Pens: Libbok 2

Western Province: 15 Dillyn Leyds, 14 Sergeal Petersen, 13 Ruhan Nel, 12 Dan Kriel, 11 SP Marais, 10 Damian Willemse, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Juarno Augustus, 7 Ernst van Rhyn, 6 Kobus van Dyk, 5 JD Schickerling, 4 Chris van Zyl (c), 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Ali Vermaak. Replacements: 16 Scarra Ntubeni, 17 Caylib Oosthuizen, 18 Michael Kumbirai, 19 Salmaan Moerat, 20 Jaco Coetzee, 21 Paul de Wet, 22 Josh Stander, 23 JJ Engelbrecht.

Blue Bulls: 15 Divan Rossouw, 14 Duncan Matthews, 13 Dylan Sage, 12 Johnny Kotze, 11 Jade Stighling, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Ivan van Zyl, 8 Hanro Liebenberg, 7 Marco van Staden, 6 Ruan Steenkamp, 5 Eli Snyman, 4 Hendre Stassen, 3 Dayan van der Westhuizen, 2 Jaco Visagie, 1 Trevor Nyakane.
Replacements: 16 Edgar Marutlulle, 17 Frans van Wyk, 18 Conraad van Vuuren, 19 Ruan Nortje, 20 Nic de Jager, 21 Embrose Papier, 22 Tinus de Beer, 23 Franco Naude.

Referee: Egon Seconds
Assistant referees: Rasta Rasivhenge, Paul Mente
Television match official: Willie Vos

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Bath replacement Alex Davies missed a late penalty which meant his side had to settle for a 35-35 draw with Wasps at the Ricoh Arena on Saturday.

Ten tries from ten different scorers whetted everyone’s appetite for tries but did little to help the fortunes of either side in this competition.

Bath squandered a 14 point advantage to trail midway through the second 40 and then held the lead again themselves only to lose it.

Joe Cokanasiga’s week got better when he opened the scoring with less than three minutes on the clock. Allowed space to attack the Wasps defence; he ran straight and direct trading passes with Will Chudley before finishing well.

It was exactly what the visitor’s deserved. Their last trip here yielded victory just over 12 months ago and Wasps’ home record is not what it was then.

Yet Wasps, as they often do, stung the visitors with their first meaningful visit into Bath territory. Joe Simpson adopted the blindside from a scrum 15 metres out, stood up his man and sent Josh Bassett diving into the corner.

The game’s parity lasted all of a few minutes. Max Wright finding a gaping hole in the Wasps defence which he exploited. Hooker Jack Walker ran an excellent support line to receive and then return the pass allowing Wright to dive over.

Wasps though begun building momentum and created a foothold in the game but were dealt a sucker punch when Semesa Rokoduguni intercepted and ran over half the pitch to dive over.

Bath’s perfect first 40 though was in danger of being undermined. Francois Louw receiving a yellow card for lifting a player beyond the horizontal. Wasps though – for most of the half – had lacked ideas in attack. The ingenuity so synonymous with them was absent and they headed into the interval 21-7 down.

Three tries in seven second half minutes though transformed the contest and the mood, and showed Wasps still possess their mojo. First Simpson crashed over when Zurabj Zhvania offloaded to the scrum-half centimetres from the Bath line. The prop then scored a try of his own off a short ball under the posts. 21-21.

The swarm was in overdrive and Bath had no answer. Ashley Johnson – carrying monstrously throughout – ran a great line ten metres out and had the power to bowl over, to put Wasps ahead for the first time in the afternoon.

The seesaw encounter showed no intention of easing up. Minutes after Wasps had grabbed the lead Charlie Ewels took a short ball and raced under the posts to level on 56 minutes. A bonus point apiece.

Todd Blackadder’s side then stole back the lead courtesy of Louw. Back in the thick of things following his sin bin period. Bath peppering the Wasps line with forward drive after forward drive and it was eventually the South African who broke their resistance. 35-28 with a quarter of an hour remaining.

Wasps levelled once again five minutes later via Thomas Young. The Bath defence relieving pressure momentarily but Elliot Daly ran an excellent line to break through the on-rushing defence. Simpson supported the captain well before he then offloaded to Young.

Bath held possession going into the game’s final moments and drew the penalty out by the touchline with 60 seconds remaining. Davies, on for Freddie Burns who kicked five from five, hooked his shot meaning the game ended all square.

The scorers:

For Wasps:
Tries: Bassett, Simpson, Zhvania, Johnson, Young
Cons: Sopoaga 5

For Bath:
Tries: Cokanasiga, Wright, Rokoduguni, Ewels, Louw
Cons: Burns 5
Yellow card: Louw

Wasps: 15 Willie Le Roux, 14 Josh Bassett, 13 Juan de Jongh, 12 Michael Le Bourgeois, 11 Elliot Daly (c), 10 Lima Sopoaga, 9 Joe Simpson, 8 Nizaam Carr, 7 Thomas Young, 6 Brad Shields, 5 James Gaskell, 4 Will Rowlands, 3 Kieran Brookes, 2 Tommy Taylor, 1 Zurabi Zhvania
Replacements: 16 Tom Cruse, 17 Ben Harris, 18 Will Stuart, 19 Kearnan Myall, 20 Ashley Johnson, 21 Craig Hampson, 22 Billy Searle, 23 Rob Miller

Bath: 15 Darren Atkins, 14 Semesa Rokoduguni, 13 Jackson Willison, 12 Max Wright, 11 Joe Cokanasiga, 10 Freddie Burns, 9 Will Chudley, 8 Zach Mercer, 7 Francois Louw, 6 Tom Ellis, 5 Charlie Ewels (c), 4 Dave Attwood, 3 Henry Thomas, 2 Jack Walker, 1 Nathan Catt
Replacements: 16 Ross Batty, 17 Jacques van Rooyen, 18 Anthony Perenise, 19 Matt Garvey, 20 Sam Underhill, 21 Max Green, 22 Alex Davies, 23 Tom Homer

Referee: Jérôme Garcès (France)
Assistant referees: Laurent Cardona (France), Jean-Luc Rebollal (France)
Television match official: Éric Briquet-Campin (France)

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Edinburgh registered their first win of their Champions Cup campaign when they claimed a 40-14 victory over Toulon at Murrayfield on Saturday.

The PRO14 outfit were full value for their win as they were the dominant side for most of this match and the result heaps more misery on the three-time champions, who have now lost both their opening matches in the competition.

Edinburgh dominated this contest for long periods and eventually outscored their visitors by four tries to two with Jaco van der Walt finishing with an 18-point haul courtesy of four penalties and three conversions.

The home side had the better of the early exchanges and took a 3-0 lead courtesy of a third minute penalty from Van der Walt.

They were slowly gaining a grip on proceedings and in the 15th minute, they took the ball through several phases with pick-and-goes inside Toulon’s 22 before Ben Toolis crossed for the opening try.

Van der Walt’s conversion gave the home side a 10-0 lead but the visitors opened their account five minutes later when Romain Taofifenua barged over from close range for a deserved try.

Anthony Belleau added the extras but Edinburgh responded with a well-taken try from Henry Pyrgos in the 24th minute after Matt Scott set him up with a brilliant run in the build-up.

The latter stages of the half saw Toulon conceding several penalties and Van der Walt succeeded with three further shots at goal before half-time which gave his side a 26-7 lead at the break.

Edinburgh continued to dominate after the interval and four minutes into the second half, Darcy Graham made a superb line break before being brought to ground inside Toulon’s 22. The ball was recycled quickly and WP Nel did well to offload to Stuart McInally, who crashed over for his side’s third try despite the attentions of two defenders.

Toulon were more competitive during the next 20 minutes but despite having the bulk of the possession, they could not breach Edinburgh’s tryline.

In the 65th minute, Toulon set up some phases with their forwards inside Edinburgh’s 22 before striking out wide with their backs, but Josua Tuisova was tackled into touch by Simon Berghan at the corner flag.

Edinburgh then regained the initiative and were the dominant side over the next 10 minutes as they went in search of their bonus-point try.

However, in the 71st minute, Toulon won a turnover inside their half and the ball was shifted to Daniel Ikpefan, who outpaced the cover defence before crossing for their second try.

Despite that score, Edinburgh did not panic and two minutes later, Chris Dean intercepted a wayward pass deep inside Toulon’s 22 before crossing for his side’s bonus-point try with Simon Hickey slotting the resutling conversion which also sealed the home side’s win.

The scorers:

For Edinburgh:
Tries: Toolis, Pyrgos, McInally, Dean
Cons: Van der Walt 3, Hickey
Pens: Van der Walt 4

For Toulon:
Tries: Taofifenua, Ikpefan
Cons: Belleau, Trinh-Duc

Edinburgh: 15 Blair Kinghorn, 14 Darcy Graham, 13 James Johnstone, 12 Matt Scott, 11 Dougie Fife, 10 Jaco van der Walt, 9 Henry Pyrgos, 8 Bill Mata, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 Magnus Bradbury, 5 Grant Gilchrist, 4 Ben Toolis, 3 WP Nel, 2 Stuart McInally (c), 1 Allan Dell
Replacements: 16 Ross Ford, 17 Rory Sutherland, 18 Simon Berghan, 19 Luke Crosbie, 20 Jamie Ritchie, 21 Nathan Fowles, 22 Simon Hickey, 23 Chris Dean

Toulon: 15 Hugo Bonneval, 14 Josua Tuisova, 13 Malakai Fekitoa, 12 Mathieu Bastareaud (c), 11 Julian Savea, 10 Anthony Belleau, 9 Anthony Meric, 8 Florent Vanverberghe, 7 Raphael Lakafia, 6 Swan Rebbadj, 5 Romain Taofifenua, 4 Juandre Kruger, 3 Sebastien Taofifenua, 2 Anthony Etrillard, 1 Florian Fresia
Replacements: 16 Bastien Soury, 17 Xavier Chiocci, 18 Emerick Setiano, 19 Jacques Potgieter, 20 Daniel Ikpefan, 21 Francois Trinh-Duc, 22 Eric Escande, 23 Rudy Gahetau

Referee: JP Doyle (England)
Assistant referees: Ian Tempest (England), Simon McConnell (England)
Television match official: David Grashoff (England)

 

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