Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Nemani Nadolo's hot-streak extension not enough as Tigers say au revoir to silverware chances

By PA
Tomas Lavanini (Photo by Aurelien Meunier/Getty Images)

Leicester were unable to prevent Toulon from reaching their sixth European final as the French side ran out 34-19 winners at Stade Felix Mayol to set up a shoot-out with Bristol for the Challenge Cup.

ADVERTISEMENT

The three-time Heineken Champions Cup winners conceded a third-minute penalty to George Ford, but came storming back into the contest with two tries that edged them into a 20-11 interval lead.

From there they held on to win and earn home advantage country advantage against Bristol at Stade Maurice-David, in Aix-en-Provence, on Friday, October 16.

Video Spacer

Jerome Kaino on the future of the All Blacks, Cheslin Kolbe and his final season in rugby

Video Spacer

Jerome Kaino on the future of the All Blacks, Cheslin Kolbe and his final season in rugby

Both of Toulon’s first-half tries showed up the defensive frailties in the Tigers ranks. The French giants also took their total of touchdowns in their 117 games across the two European tournaments to 300.

The first came from former Worcester centre Bryce Heem in the eighth minute.

Sergio Parisse stripped the ball from Tomas Lavanini in a tackle on the home 10-metre line and made an overhead pass to Heem, who then brushed aside Kini Murimurivalu and raced to the left corner.

Louis Carbonel converted from wide out in his 50th game for the French side and went on to notch 14 points on the night.

ADVERTISEMENT

He added the extras to the first of two tries from flying wing Gabin Villiere, who stepped inside one defender and then handed off Dan Cole, before kicking two penalties before half-time.

Ford added a second penalty, but was unable to improve Nemani Nadolo’s try in the left corner on the stroke of half-time that gave Leicester some hope.

Those hopes rose when Ford kicked his third penalty after a powerful scrum from the Tigers four minutes after the restart.

But the England fly-half then overcooked a simple penalty kick for a five-metre line-out and cost the Tigers a great shot at scoring again.

ADVERTISEMENT

Toulon worked their way out of danger and thought they had gone further ahead when Raphael Lakafia went over, but somehow Nadolo managed to get underneath him and hold him up.

That merely staved off the inevitable, however, and a two-try burst in seven minutes made victory safe for the home side.

Argentina back-row forward Facundo Isa, shortly after coming on as a replacement, was given space wide on the right to score after a close-range line-out on the other side of the pitch, and then Villiere got his second.

Carbonel converted them both and the gap was now 20 points with 14 minutes to go.

Harry Potter crossed for a second Leicester try and then Ellis Genge made his way over from 20 metres, only to have his score ruled out for a forward pass earlier in the move.

Both sides were reduced to 14 men during the second half when Tigers lock Lavanini saw yellow for a late tackle and then Italian number eight Parisse went to the sin-bin for collapsing a maul, but it made little difference to the final outcome.

ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

H
Hellhound 55 minutes ago
South Africa player ratings | 2024 Autumn Nations Series

There is this thing going around against Siya Kolisi where they don't want him to be known as the best national captain ever, so they strike him down in ratings permanently whenever they can. They want McCaw and reckons he is the best captain ever. I disagree.


Just like they refuse to see SA as the best team and some have even said that should the Boks win a third WC in a row, they will still not be the best team ever. Even if they win every game between now and the WC. That is some serious hate coming SA's way.


Everyone forget how the McCaw AB's intimidated refs, was always on the wrong side, played on the ground etc. Things they would never have gotten away with today. They may have a better win ratio, but SA build depth, not caring about rank inbetween WC's until this year.


They weren't as bad inbetween as people claim, because non e of their losses was big ones and they almost never faced the strongest Bok team outside of the WC, allowing countries like France and Ireland to rise to the top unopposed.


Rassie is still at it, building more depth, getting more young stars into the fold. By the time he leaves (I hope never) he will leave a very strong Bok side for the next 15- 20 years. Not everyone will play for 20 years, but each year Rassie acknowledge the young stars and get them involved and ready for international rugby.


Not everyone will make it to the WC, but those 51/52 players will compete for those spots for the WC. They will deliver their best. The future of the Boks is in very safe hands. The only thing that bothers me is Rassie's health. If he can overcome it, rugby looks dark for the rest of the rugby world. He is already the greatest coach in WR history. By the time he retires, he will be the biggest legend any sport has ever seen

4 Go to comments
J
JW 1 hour ago
'They smelt it': Scott Robertson says Italy sensed All Blacks' vulnerability

No where to be seen OB!


The crosses for me for the year where (from memory);


This was a really hard one to nail down as the first sign of a problem, now that I've asked myself to think about it. I'd say it all started with his decision to not back form and fit players after all the injuries, and/or him picking players for the future, rather ones that could play right now.


First he doesn't replace Perofeta straight away (goes on for months in the team) after injury against England, second he falls back to Beauden Barrett to cover at fullback against Fiji, then he drops Narawa the obvious choice to have started, then he brings in Jordan too soon. That Barret selection (and to a lesser extent Bell's) set the tone for the year.


Then he didn't get the side up for Argentina. They were blown away and didn't look like they expected a fight and were well beaten despite the scoreline in my opinion. Worst performance of the year in the forth game and..


Basically the same problems were persistent, or even exaggerated, after that with the players he did select not given much of an opportunity, with this year having the most number of unused subs I can remember since the amateur days.


What I think I started to realise early on was that he didn't back himself and his team. I think he prepared the players well, don't get me wrong, but I'll credit him with making a conscious choice in tempering his ambition and instead choosing cohesion and to respect (the idea of it being important in himself and his players) experience first and foremost (after two tight games and that 4th game loss). I think he chose wrong in deciding not to be, and back, himself. Hard criticism.


And it played out by preferring Beauden to Dmac on the EOYT (though that may have been a planned move).


I hope I'm right, because going through all the little things of the season and coming up with these bullets, I've got to wonder when I say his last fault is one we have seen at the Crusaders, playing his best players into the ground. What I'm really scared of now is that not wanting a bit of freshness in this last game could be linked with all these other crosses that I want to put down to simple confidence issues. But are they really a sign that he just lacks vision?


Now, that's not to say I haven't seen a lot of positives as well, I just think that for the ABs to go where they want to go he has to fix these crosses. Just have difficult that will be is the question.

27 Go to comments
LONG READ
LONG READ Gatland defiant but Welsh rugby no nearer escape route with Springboks looming Gatland defiant but Welsh rugby no nearer escape route with Springboks looming
Search