Halfpenny gets Toulon thinking he’s new Jonny
The value of Welsh international full-back Leigh Halfpenny will be enormous for Toulon if he can steer clear of the injuries that wrecked his arrival in the Top 14. His kicking secured them a defensive bonus point at Bayonne last time out. Now he has recorded 17 of the points that allowed his team to win 22-18 at Pau yesterday.
Not an experience Steffon Armitage or Kiwi back Tom Taylor will have enjoyed after leaving Toulon for Pau in summer.
In fact, Armitage, playing at No.8, was one of the indisciplined men that gave Halfpenny the chance of racking up five penalties before the hour.
If only Pau had possessed someone with the calm authority of Halfpenny whose metronomic kicking evoked happy memories of predecessor Jonny Wilkinson for Toulon fans.
Kiwi Colin Slade, normally so reliable, himself, missed three acceptable chances to score the penalties which would have given Pau, now beaten in two matches, a morale-boosting success.
Especially since they outscored Toulon in tries by two to one, theirs coming in 17 minutes from Fijian winger Watisoni Votu from a more controlled kick by Slade and from sub hooker Quentin Lespiaucq five minutes from time.
That made for a tense finale, Toulon forward Charles Ollivon having been yellow-carded just before, taking the shine somewhat off the try he had just scored himself after a move organised in the main by Ma’ Nonu.
That try, too, followed a yellow card for Chris King, Pau’s Kiwi prop. And, as battle intensified after the end of normal time, Mamuka Gorgodze went into the book, too, for a deliberate knock-on. Happily for Toulon, too late to affect the result.
Toulon’s new team boss Diego Dominguez said: “We put ourselves under pressure with two yellow cards. There is no secret to this.We need time and work to achieve a more fluent game.”
Another two Toulon stars, Delon Armitage, brother of Steffon, and Frederic Michalak had no better luck as Lyon went down 29-16 at the home of champions Racing 92.
Notably full-back Delon, who caught Racing’s Kiwi centre Casey Laulala round the neck to be given a yellow card shortly into the second half.
It was a crucial moment as promoted Lyon, thanks to three penalties from Michalak, remained within three points of Racing, who had lost their opening game at Bordeaux-Begles.
Three minutes after the dismissal of Armitage, however, his depleted teammates conceded a try to Racing prop Luc Ducalcon with another soon following from centre Henry Chavancy.
Given Racing had already scored two early tries, the first from Argentine winger Juan Imhoff on his return from the Olympics and the second from Chavancy, the challenge of Lyon, relegated after just one season at top level before winning their way back, looked impossible.
Racing, assuming the match was won, took off megaster Dan Carter with 18 minutes left. Soon after, Kiwi hooker Cameron Mapusa went over for Lyon to make the score 29-16.
But, even though back rower Olivier Missoup, yet another former Toulon player, reduced Racing to 14 late on for
“Steffon Armitage, playing at No.8, was one of the indisciplined men who gave Halfpenny the chance to rack up five penalties before the hour”
catching an opponent with his head, the points were safe with five points in the bag.
Not so long ago French president Francois Holland, a fan of his local club Brive, wondered aloud why full-back Gaetan Germain, consistently among the Top 14’s best points-scorers, was not a regular for his country.
Well, he really needs no-one to speak up for him now after scoring 25 of the points in Brive’s 28-20 win over Stade Francais. And the only reason he did not add the other three points is because, bizzarely, he had received a rare and questionable yellow card four minutes from time.
Just enough for a sub fly-half, Thomas Laranjeira, to take a penalty on the siren to deprive him of a full house and, at the same time, Stade of a defensive bonus point. Germain’s haul was made up of a try from a run during which he left two defenders floundering, a conversion and seven penalties.
Stade rallied towards the close with a try from Hugo Bonneval, adding to a first half score from captain Sergio Parisse, but Laranjeira’s late thrust left them pointless.
An encouraging result for Brock James, the fly-half so highly valued for years by Clermont, and now wearing the colours of La Rochelle.
He took a prominent part in a 22-19 win at Grenoble where tries from Dutch back-rower Zeno Kieft, Aussie fly-half Zack Holmes and Kiwi lock Hikairo Forbes proved decisive in the end.
Despite a typically effective performance from Grenoble fly-half Jonathan Wisniewski, who scored 14 of their points after a try by his South African full-back Gio Aplon.
Castres, struggling to cope with the loss of Rory Kockott who was sent off in an opening victory at Pau, managed to secure a 12-12 draw at Bayonne.