Gutsy Scarlets beat by world-class champions Toulon

By Helen ‘Helzbach’ Davies

Following a superb performance against the Tigers last week, the injury struck Scarlets welcomed defending European Champions Toulon to the fortress Parc y Scarlets for the final game in this season’s European Campain. Despite being placed in the toughest of groups, the Scarlets have gained the respect of many in the rugby world following their performances against Toulon and Leicester away and of course their huge mauling of the Tigers at home.

Unfortunately the aim for the rest of this season now is to finish in the top 6 of the League to ensure Champions Cup rugby next season.

The pre- match atmosphere was boosted somewhat with Cor Meibion Llanelli leading the crowd with the singing of both the French and Welsh National Anthems….replicating the gesture that had welcomed the Scarlets to Toulon.

It took a matter of minutes for the strong French team to score their first try of the evening, with Mathieu Bastareaud crossing in the corner, though he was just one of many lining up to take the try scoring pass. Leigh Halfpenny added the conversion and Toulon were 7 point to 0 up and looking very dangerous.

With the game being played deep in the Scarlets 22, the home team were under immense pressure to defend their lines. Despite their obvious dominance, Toulon opted to take the kick at goal following their penalty award, safe in the knowledge that Halfpenny wouldn’t let them down as they further increased their lead, 0 points to 10.

The Scarlets finally managed to string some passes together and almost made it out of their half. Priestland’s penalty kick found them in the Toulon 22 for the first time and they would have been on the attack had they secured the line-out.

With ball in hand the Scarlets looked dangerous and were able to cross the gain line, however, mistakes had already crept in with passes being spilled.

Halfpenny added yet another penalty minutes later as the points racked up against the home team….0 points to 13 as the depleted Scarlets struggled to play against one of the richest teams in Europe boasting an array of World Class players. This again raises the question of how teams like the Scarlets are ever going to compete on an equal footing in Europe against teams with a playing squad worth several million pounds.

Outside Half Nicolas Sanchez added a drop goal to add further to the Scarlets’ point mountain as he increased his team’s lead to 16 points to 0. However, the Scarlets faithful finally had something to cheer about as the men in Scarlet secured a line out on the Toulon try line. The strength and power of Toulon in defence was evident as play was back in the Scarlets half almost immediately.

Again the Scarlets demonstrated their strength of character and their determination to play the game as they played themselves back into the Toulon half. They were rewarded for their efforts with a penalty. Steve Shingler, playing at Full Back made no mistake as his kick sailed through the posts to slightly narrow the gap – 3 points to 16.

Unfortunately, Leigh Halfpenny continued with his 100% kicking record as Toulon received a penalty of their own almost immediately and the home team’s attempt to claw back the deficit was in vain as Toulon increased their lead to 3 points to 19.

As half time approached, the game continued in the same vein as Toulon’s domination continued and it seemed there was little the Scarlets could do to stop the French outfit, though of course, the fact that Toulon sent such a strong team down for this fixture when they have already qualified for the next stage of the competition is testament for the respect they have for the Scarlets.

The Scarlets started the second half the stronger, keeping ball in hand as they carried out a series of passes. Halfpenny was offered the opportunity to further increase his team’s score but for once he finally missed a kick, albeit from the half way line and the score remained at 3 points to 19.

Despite the Scarlets’ attack, Toulon were soon back in the Scarlets 22 and no one was going to stop wonder Wing Bryan Habana side stepping his way over the white wash for Toulon’s third try of the evening. Halfpenny added the conversion to give the Champions a commanding 3 points to 26 lead.

As Toulon rang in the changes bringing on the majority of their strong bench, the Scarlets finally found themselves back in the Toulon 22. Referee Wayne Barnes awarded them a penalty and the decision was made to kick for the corner rather than take the 3 points. However, handling errors at the breakdown soon resulted in the advantage being passed back to the visitors.

A series of penalties saw the Scarlets inch ever closer to the Toulon try line as they opted to kick for the corner and take full advantage of their extra man following the first yellow card of the game for Toulon Lock Jocelino Suta.

The effort from the Scarlets was immense as they passed the ball from touchline to touchline in an attempt to break the Toulon defence. With ball in hand the Scarlets looked dangerous and as had been the case so many times, the final try scoring pass is the one that lets the home team down despite all the hard work.

With just the final minutes remaining, the Scarlets continued in their efforts to get that elusive try of the evening to give the majority of the 9,276 supporters something to cheer about, even running the ball from their own line, however, on this occasion Toulon were again just too strong to overcome as they demonstrated exactly why they are the current European Champions.

Next Saturday the Scarlets play London Irish in the LV= Cup, kick off, 6.30pm.