London
4 °C
Manchester
Glasgow
Dublin
1 °C
Belfast
2 °C
Washington
3 °C
Denver
Atlanta
15 °C
Dallas
Houston Texas
New Orleans
20 °C
El Paso
17 °C
Phoenix
Los Angeles
8 °C
-2 °C
-1 °C
18 °C
Toulon win Munster thriller as Quins progress in Champions Cup / Photo: Miguel MEDINA - AFP
Toulon win Munster thriller as Quins progress in Champions Cup
Munster's hopes of reaching the last 16 of the Champions Cup suffered a blow when the two-time champions lost 27-25 in a Pool 2 thriller at Toulon on Sunday.
English side Harlequins booked their place in the knockout stages with a one-sided 61-10 bonus point win at home to Cape Town Stormers.
Two penalties from Jack Crowley appeared to give Munster the upper hand in a tight first half until Toulon full-back Marius Domon sliced through from close range for the first try in the 39th minute, his conversion giving the French side a 7-6 lead at the break.
That try appeared to unlock the floodgates as the first 10 minutes of the second half produced three tries.
With Tadhg Beirne in the sin bin, Toulon struck again. A superb sustained period of phase play ended when Scotland scrum-half Ben White wriggled through a gap and dotted down under the posts.
Munster hit back immediately spinning the ball wide to wing Calvin Nash who went over.
That was followed by a fine solo effort from Toulon wing Gael Drean who chipped over the defence, collected on the bounce and skittered through for the try.
A penalty from Domon stretched the Toulon lead to 24-13 with 15 minutes remaining.
Back came the Munstermen with flanker Jack O'Donoghue going over in the corner while Toulon's Charles Ollivon was sent to the bin.
The conversion went wide but four minutes later the Irish were in front, another flowing move and change of direction teeing up Tom Farrell for the try.
This time Crowley found the conversion to make it 25-24 for Munster.
Four minutes from time, Toulon reclaimed the lead as Domon landed his second penalty.
The French side dominated the last couple of minutes but were unable to score a fourth try, missing out on what could be a crucial bonus point.
The Pool will come down to next week when Munster host Castres and Toulon travel to Gloucester. Bath and Edinburgh look certain to qualify but the other two spots are wide open.
Harlequins made short work of a weakened Stormers at the Stoop as they leap-frogged the South African franchise into second place in Pool 3 and secured their passage to the last 16.
The London side cut loose in the first half, scoring five tries and chalking up the bonus point as they took a 33-0 halftime lead.
The rout continued in the second half as wing Nick David completed his hat-trick and Quins took their try tally to nine.
A.Montoya--HdM
