Toulon halt Sexton’s Metro

Toulon 41 Racing Metro 14

And in the process Jonny Wilkinson produced a class performance to win the first battle of the most expensive out-halves in world rugby hands down.

Sexton landed all three penalties but Racing Metro were nearly always on the back foot of a heated contest which saw the crowd gather outside the port venue three hours before kick-off and which ended with several dust-ups in the closing minutes when Toulon were coasting to victory.

Both sides finished with 14 men as Martin Castrogiavanni and Toulon’s Eddy Ben Arous were red-carded in a flare-up involving a host of players.

Wilkinson set the bar for what Sexton needs to achieve when he produced a man-of-the-match display which yielded a flawless 16 points with the boot — five conversions, a penalty and a drop goal — as well as a series of sublime touches in open play as he made the most of a dominant pack.