French bliss
Tou good to be true for glory Gunners
Toulon .......................... 17 Edinburgh ................... 28 Edinburgh coach Richard Cockerill has told his Euro heroes to earn a continental quarter-final at Murrayfield.
The Gunners produced their greatest ever Champions Cup display in France to complete a remarkable double over the tournament’s big spenders.
And the clear-cut triumph at Stade Felix Mayol took them to the brink of claiming a place in the last eight for only the second time.
Anything other than a heavy loss to Montpellier at Murrayfield on Friday will crown them pool winners – though they may have the safety net of going through as one of the best runners-up.
Cockeri ll said: “We have given ourselves a fantastic opportunity to reach the quarter-finals but we want to do even more. The aim now is not only to get through but we are determined to beat Montpellier on Friday to earn a home tie.
“I’m so proud of what the guys have achieved with this result and they should be proud of themselves.
“We came with a plan, we stuck to it – and it worked.”
But the travelling fans feared the worst when Toulon surged ahead in under two minutes.
They snubbed a penalty pot at the posts in favour of an attacking line-out. And the gamble paid instant dividends when veteran hooker Guilhem Guirado burrowed over.
Edinburgh’s response was positive as they earned a pressure penalty and Jaco van der Walt’s 35-metre effort was bang on to ease the jitters.
They kept up the momentum and created a superb touchdown on the half- hour. James Ritchie lured two markers before sending winger Darcy Graham over in the corner.
Toulon then fired back by claiming a second try through Facundo Isa, goaled by Anthony Belleau.
The Gunners continued to win plenty of possession in the build up to the interval but couldn’t add to their tally.
Edinburgh kept up the pace after the restart only for a series of handling errors to let the French off the hook. But then came a moment of magic.
Van der Walt’s delicate chip was perfectly weighted for Blair Kinghorn to scoop it up and plunge over.
And van der Walt followed up with the conversion from a wide angle – then clipped over a short-range penalty.
Edinburgh extended their advantage with another van der Walt penalty followed by a third try.
Bill Mata inflicted the initial damage before sending Jimmy Johnstone on a cruise to the line.
Predictably, Toulon refused to buckle and All Black Julian Savea gave them a glimmer of hope late on.