Toulouse falls in Marseille against Toulon
For this 23rd day relocated to Marseille, in a boiling Vélodrome stadium, Toulon stammered its rugby for a long time but ended up dominating Toulouse (19-15) thanks to a try from Gabin Villière at the end of the match.
The party in a Vélodrome stadium filled with 64,805 spectators could have been more beautiful for the RCT. Dominating territorially, the Toulonnais were much too approximate near the line of en-but to hope for a festive evening on Saturday evening. For his part, the reigning French champion was surgical, especially in the first period, before dying in the second act.
The first action of the meeting was also a reflection of the Toulon performance. After several tens of seconds of battling near the line, they finally attempted a missed drop by Louis Carbonel. The Toulonnais then seemed timid, taken by the challenge and the atmosphere of an almost full Vélodrome.
Passed to the opening in the absence of Romain Ntamack, Thomas Ramos then did not tremble to punish the Var indiscipline by passing two penalties and a drop propelling his team in the lead 9-0 after a quarter of an hour of play .
Jostled in all the rucks, the Toulonnais ended up reacting with the boot of Louis Carbonel but they again lost several balls in the 22 opposing meters due to an obvious lack of support.
And it’s not halftime that solved the problem. Led by six points at the break, they again camped in the 22 meters from Haut-Garonne for twenty minutes but only scored three points. Clumsy near the lines like Duncan Paia’aua completely missing his kick when the try was all done wide, the Toulonnais fell back into their early season failings by lacking realism in the area fateful.
Despite everything, Carbonel brought the two teams tied on the scoreboard fifteen minutes from the siren. And in the + money-time +, the Toulonnais were the best. The only Varois to really float on Saturday evening, the three-quarter wing Gabin Villière was able to remove four defenders on the edge of the touchline to register the only try of the meeting (71st).
With this success, Toulon climbs to eighth place and overtakes Clermont, while Toulouse is in sixth place. Both teams are to turn to another big chunk next weekend. Toulouse will receive La Rochelle on Saturday in a decisive match for their qualification in the final stages, while Toulon will challenge Bordeaux-Bègles on Sunday.