European Rugby Champions Cup: Toulon see off Scarlets in France
Last Updated: 20/10/14 1:18am
European kings Toulon made a winning start to their Champions Cup campaign as they recorded a 28-18 victory over the Scarlets in Pool 3.
The French outfit have been crowned European champions in each of the last two years and made a solid start to the defence of their title at Stade Felix Mayol.
Matt Giteau, Maxime Mermoz and Steffon Armitage ran in tries for the hosts, who are now on a run of 12 straight wins in Europe.
The Scarlets crossed the whitewash through John Barclay and Kristian Phillips, but yellow cards for Rory Pitman and Emyr Phillips hampered their bid for a losing bonus point.
Scarlets were reduced to 14 men just six minutes in when Pitman saw yellow for a high tackle on wing David Smith, allowing Leigh Halfpenny to put Toulon’s first points on the board.
Rhys Priestland responded to bring the away side level but Toulon surged ahead when Giteau unlocked the defence to score a brilliant individual try.
Halfpenny failed to add the simple conversion after the ball fell off its tee halfway through his run-up, leaving the French side 8-3 ahead.
Response
The visitors responded to take the lead themselves when flanker Barclay finished off good work by Scott Williams and Liam Williams to score a converted try.
But straight from the restart Scarlets skipper Scott Williams hesitated when clearing the ball and Mermoz charged his kick down to go under the posts, with Halfpenny adding the extras.
Wales internationals Priestland and Halfpenny then exchanged penalties before the interval to give Toulon a slender 18-13 lead at the break.
Toulon put the Scarlets under pressure at the beginning of the second period but were finding it difficult to break through the visitors' stern defence.
Hooker Phillips became the second Scarlets player to be sin-binned after using his hands on the floor when Smith had made a dangerous break for Toulon.
The Welsh side emerged from the sin-bin period unscathed, but Halfpenny added a long-range penalty with 15 minutes remaining to settle some home nerves.
A third try followed inside the final 10 minutes when another good break from Giteau made room for Armitage to crash over the line from close range.
With Toulon chasing the bonus point the Scarlets were able to grab a consolation score when Phillips went over in the last minute.
