Following Toulon’s 33-21 victory over Harlequins, here are our takeaways from the Investec Champions Cup clash at the Stade Mayol.
The Top Line
Toulon qualified for the Round of 16 as they moved to the top of Group Four with a wonderfully physical display of power rugby from their pack, brilliantly orchestrated at nine by Baptiste Serin who reminded all of his Test class.
It was a day of frustration for Harlequins; they left empty-handed after toiling physically against a massive Toulon side, leaving them with only a mathematical chance of qualifying when they take on Glasgow Warriors next week at the Stoop in a must-win game.
Toulon’s forward effort was driven by some massive displays from Esteban Abadie and former England test lock David Ribbans, with Abadie claiming a timely Player of the Match in the week the French Six Nations squad is announced.
The Toulon tries came from Gianmarco Lucchesi, Serin, Abadie, Jiuta Wainiqolo, and Gael Drean, with Quins replying with three second-half efforts from Will Porter, Jack Walker and Nick David as they pushed right to the end for that crucial losing bonus point.
But it wasn’t to be and Quins must rely upon home advantage to move forward in the competition next week as they search for a full-point win to turn around their frustrating season.
Power over Possession
Toulon have been very much on a form upslope in recent weeks and on today’s showing, it’s clear that their focus has been on direct uncompromising power to overcome their opposition. Couple this with a brilliantly engineered lineout, the work of skills coach Sergio Parisse, and a lightning-hot service from Serin and it’s clear to see that their approach is based upon the immense beef in the forward pack.
We saw two Englishmen prominent in this approach; stand-in skipper Ribbans had a massive game, thundering around the pitch like a fourth back-rower and showing just what England miss now his talents are being plied on the French Riviera. Alongside him, Lewis Ludlam, a man who never got the plaudits he deserved when with England, showed that his superpower of metres through contact is still the hallmark of his game as he hit 11 carries for 60m but beat the first tackler in every instance.
Couple in Facundo Isa and Abadie rumbling and rolling around the fringes, and in Isa’s case melting Alex Dombrandt on a couple of occasions and it’s safe to say that Quins were simply eviscerated at contact and breakdown, One exception was Chandler Cunningham-South’s 20-minute cameo, where he showed a welcome return to form and that won’t have escaped the notice of the watching England selectors.
Toulon are direct, big and powerful – perhaps they lack the gas around the back three to match the very best in France, but on this showing, they’re a tough and physical side to beat.
Serin thriving
Given France’s incredible depth at scrum-half it’s hard to know quite where the brilliant Serin stands in the Test pecking order, but if he played for any other nation there’s no doubt he’d be playing a lot more international rugby.
His brilliance today was eye-catching, but the speed of ball he creates is partly down to that forward power we alluded to earlier. Toulon are clear, hard and direct – all done at pace. They don’t over carry and they look to get the maximum space in the ruck length to give Serin space to operate. There’s no chance to spoil or slow due to the distance between the offside line and ball, so the moment Serin picks up, there’s an extra metre of space for him to work within.
Nothing could have illustrated this, and Serin’s rugby opportunism, more than the scrum halves’ solo try. With another long ruck and Serin poised to pass, Quins lock George Hammond did no more than glance at the Toulon centres, and needing no more invitation, Serin dummied and went over untouched.
It was a moment of quality from the diminutive half-back, but don’t overlook the way his pack set things up for him to have the quality of clean and fastball to thrive.
The Game in Numbers
If you look at the stats of this game in isolation of the scoreline, you’d be forgiven for wondering how many Quins won by. The visitors made 502m with ball in hand, some 100m or so more than Toulon. They enjoyed the lion’s share of possession and territory and they carried further and more often (137 played 126) than their opponents.
But when it came down to defence the differences were stark. At one point in the match, around the 60-minute mark, Quins were at 66% tackle completion, missing one in three of their attempts, a lamentable effort. They recovered and tightened up, but still could only record 75% completion, meaning they missed one in four, a dismal return on their efforts.
Whilst there’s little doubt that Toulon won the contact battle, Quins’ defensive system needs some examination. Time and time again they bit on the carrier early in the 13/14 channel, leaving width for Serin and Paolo Garbisi to exploit with their fantastic passing. Toulon really exploited the space down the tramlines as a result and that was the core of their scoring focus. On the other side of the ball, Toulon’s defence was assisted by Quins looking to break them down the middle and it was only when Danny Care popped on that the dynamic was changed, with his passing speed allowing Quins to get the ball away from contact and into the wider spaces.
Test Watch
With so many unavailable Test players performing so well in this match, you couldn’t help but wonder what England might look like if they were able to select the likes of Ribbans and others playing in the TOP 14 in their EPS. Players like Isa are thriving by bettering themselves in the best club tournaments available and there’s little doubt that Argentina benefit greatly from the experiences of their players in the French club system, where Marcos Kremer, Santi Chocobarres and Isa perform so consistently.
But it’s not to be and England will take a few things out of this game. Firstly, they’ll have noticed that a couple of their Test squad buckled under the physical nature of this match. In the back-row, only James Chisholm offered any form of threat in contact, with Alex Dombrandt really struggling with the power of his opposition, until Cunningham-South straightened the nonsense up, impressing, but offering too little too late.
Marcus Smith did everything he could to unlock the Toulon defence, but considering the possession Quins had, he really struggled to get into this game, despite the efforts of another England hopeful, Luke Northmore alongside him.
In test Terms, the biggest statement came from Abadie, a man that might just profit from the enforced absence of France’s brilliant Charles Ollivon. Abadie was a force of nature in the lineout, grabbing a couple of steals as well as making some hard and direct metres in the loose. Given France’s strength in the back-row, their selection will be particularly interesting, but expect to see Abadie there or thereabouts.
Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/toulon-v-harlequins-five-takeaways-as-french-force-of-nature-shines-while-england-stars-buckle
