Halfpenny puts boss Cockerill in semis
Leigh Halfpenny has one more showpiece event to take his shiftworker boss Richard Cockerill to the cusp of a glorious farewell to Toulon. He’ll be packing his skullcap to join the Lions after battling through a Top 14 semi-final with La Rochelle in Marseille next Friday.
A prize he played a major part in capturing with a magnificent display, scoring 21 points in his team’s gripping 26-22 win over Castres in the quarters.
If Halfpenny can produce another match-winning performance against La Rochelle, Toulon will have to face the winners of the other semi-final between Clermont and reigning champions Racing at the Stade de France in Paris without him.
Racing made sure of their appearance in the semis last night with an impressive 22-13 win on the ground of favourites Montpellier.
Reminding everyone, at the same time, that they had come from an even lower place in the play-off rankings to swipe the title last time around.
Cockerill’s fifth win in a row as an end-of-season, stop-gap manager has reignited the flames of excitement in a town gorged on success in the Jonny Wilkinson era.
And after being sacked, unjustly in his view, by Leicester in January, he would love to have a title-winning trinket tinkling in his pocket when he takes over at Edinburgh next season.
To have a chance of doing so, Cockerill will once again put in place the low-risk trench warfare against La Rochelle that has served Toulon so well under his brief, but triumphant reign.
This will be his first tilt at runaway Top 14 leaders La Rochelle, who won a two-point victory at Toulon in the regular season while conceding a draw to them at home. He will hope that Halfpenny, who played in neither match, can just tip the balance before boarding the plane for New Zealand.
There was more to this ultra-violent encounter than the mortar bombs both sides relentlessly unleashed on each other from their own halves and which provoked some booing from the stands.
Castres, who had already shared two finals with Toulon, winning one and losing the other, hit back at a first-half try by prop Laurent Delboubes, created by fly-half Francois Trinh-Duc, with three penalties from Benjamin Urdapilleta.
The match seemed in their control when Toulon conceded a penalty try and the lead with only 13 men on the field after yellow cards for Aussie flanker Liam Gill for a high tackle and compatriot winger Drew Mitchell for a deliberate knock-on that led to the try being awarded.
Toulon president Mourad Boudjellal included that decision in a sustained rant against referee Alexandre Riaz that will almost certainly land him in front of yet another disciplinary commission.
Halfpenny turned the tense tie decisively in Toulon’s favour with one of his six penalties – Urdapilleta landed half a dozen, too – and a spectacular try magically conjured up by Kiwi legend Ma’ Nonu and Fijian powerhouse Josua Tuisova.
Ten crucial points with his name on all of them while his side were still a man down. That exploit alone is a measure of the ferocious desire Cockerill has been able to stoke in a squad that seemed to have lost the will to win for much of the season.
There was an equally emblematic moment towards the close of Racing’s win at Montpellier when Jannie du Plessis, their substitute prop, was sent off for twice punching Racing flanker Bernard Le Roux on the ground.
That scenario appeared to symbolise the hostility that had accompanied the build-up to the game largely generated by Jackie Lorenzetti and Mohed Altrad, the respective and mutually loathing presidents of Racing and Montpellier.
A relationship not warmed by a League procedural slip-up which allowed Montpellier lock Jacques du Plessis to be available when he should have been suspended for striking an opponent.
No matter, Racing showed their attacking intentions from the start, Fijian lock Leone Nakarawa plunging over for an opening try soon effaced by Montpellier scrum-half Benoit Paillaugue, who scampered over from a quick free-kick.
Paillaugue was outmuscled not long after by Yannick Nyanga who served up another try for winger Teddy Thomas, an early substitute for injured Argentine Juan Imhoff.
Racing team boss Laurent Travers was lectured by the ref for
“Cockerill’s fifth win in a row as a stop-gap manager has reignited flames of excitement in Toulon”
grabbing hold of Paillaugue on the touchline to prevent a quick restart of play.
With Montpellier trailing by just one point, Racing winger Joe Rokocoko, the Kiwi winger 34 next month, made the game safe for Racing from a long pass by centre Henry Chavancy.
All-Black megastar Dan Carter had the last word with a penalty at the close, but could have a lot more to say in this climax to the season.
His team now meet Clermont in the Marseille semis next Saturday after beating them at the same stage last season.
As for Toulon and Cockerill, there could there be no more seductive setting than a Parisian final with Racing, the team that ended their own title dreams a year ago.