Match action
A CHRIS Ashton calamity clearance, which saw Jonathan Joseph stroll over to give Bath a 20-14 lead on the hour, looked as if it might have done for Toulon – until a late try by their young French international fly-half Anthony Bealleau saved the former England winger’s blushes.
This cut-and-thrust classic was packed with drama, but Toulon squeezed home after a pulsating final quarter in which the lead could have changed hands on umpteen occasions. That it eventually swung Toulon’s way was thanks to Belleau having a cool enough head to slide a grubber past Joseph four minutes from time, and win the race to touch it down, after a steely Bath outfit had repelled wave after wave of red-shirt attacks.
These included a text book cover tackle by Anthony Watson to thwart Francois Trinh-Duc, and then another last-ditch effort by Paul Grant to stop Ashton on the line, with the TMO ruling out a grounding.
Bath rugby director Todd Blackadder said afterwards with some justification that his side had been on the receiving end of inconsistent refereeing of the breakdown – including when their final surge for the line saw Toulon awarded a debatable turn-over penalty.
However, the good news is that they not only secured a precious bonus point, but if they summon the attacking verve and defensive resolve they showed here they have every chance of gaining revenge at the Rec on Saturday.
Having turned around with a 13-7 half-time lead, Bath faced a steaming Toulon backlash early in the second half, and they were not helped when Taulupe Faletau – who had dented Toulon consistently – was injured and had to be replaced by Zach Mercer.
The damage to Faletau’s knee – which Blackadder said would almost certainly rule him out of the return leg – was sustained when the heavyweight Toulon captain, Mathieu Bastareaud, rolled on his prone leg after coming into a ruck from an offside position.
To add insult to injury, when Chris Cook was instantly sin-binned for being offside and knocking the ball out of Duane Vermeulen’s hands, they paid a heavy price. With Bath down to 14 they were short-staffed in defence when Toulon opted for a five metre scrum, and their Kiwi scrum-half Alby Mathewson took full advantage by drilling over on the blindside.
Trinh-Duc’s conversion gave Toulon the lead for the first time at 14-13 – although, thanks to a catalogue of defensive errors by Ashton and Josua Tuisova, it did not last long. It started when Tuisova, probably unsettled by being roasted by Aled Brew a couple of times, fired a quick line-out throw deep in his own 22 to Ashton.
The first issue was it only got to Ashton on the bounce, and the second was that when he took off on a lateral run in goal and unleashed a clearance from behind his own posts he sliced it so horribly that it fell as a perfect cross-kick to the touchline for the unmarked Joseph.
Rhys Priestland’s conversion was greeted with stunned silence, which contrasted starkly with the start of the match, which was preceded by a tribute to Johnny Hallyday, the troubadour who translated rock-and-roll into French.
Hallyday’s death has plunged the country into nationwide mourning but as the Stade Mayol crowd rose in a standing ovation there was a strong sense that they only rolling they had in mind was Toulon’s heavyweights flattening their English visitors.
However, Bath showed their mettle from the outset, putting down an early marker at the scrum by forcing Toulon to sheer off – and that early dominance by Ben Obano, Tom Dunn and Max Lahiff became a consistent theme.
Although Priestland failed to hit the target with the penalty from half-way they had made it clear they had no intention of being a mere speed-bump. Strong carries by Faletau and Matt Banahan reinforced that impression and, when a long grubber by Tapuai saw the centre snare Radradra, Priestland’s penalty made it 3-0.
When Bath struck in earnest from a line-out moments later they had Toulon reeling. It started with Brew making the most of Joseph’s long pass by brilliantly shrugging off Tuisova, and then, as Ashton tackled him, slipping the ball to Watson to go over for the opening try.
Priestland’s conversion to make it 10-0 stirred Toulon into life and sustained pressure spearheaded by Vermeulen and Radrada paid dividends when a neat flick pass by Bastareaud gave Ma’a Nonu a clear run-in. What went undetected was a blocking run by prop Florian Fresia which created the hole for the former All Black. With Trinh-Duc adding the extras it was 10-7.
Bath nearly went further ahead when Brew beat two defenders and inter-passed with Grant, but they did not go away empty-handed because Priestland’s penalty on the stroke of half-time rewarded their first-half dominance.
After the break Toulon came at them hard – but Bath, despite the disappointment of being squeezed out here, left the Mediterranean port knowing they have what it takes to turn the tables.