Crushing loss feels like a changing of H-Cup guard

Toulon 29 Leinster 14

This was a quarter-final between two sides who had claimed the last three Heineken Cups, but the odds must now be that Toulon can ape the men they vanquished here yesterday by claiming the trophy back-to-back.

Munster will have a considerable amount to say about that when they meet the reigning champions at Marseille’s Stade Velodrome later this month, but Leinster certainly had few complaints after suffering their heaviest defeat in France since 2007.

Leinster officials had dined on one of the largest yachts moored in the harbour just a Jonny Wilkinson kick away from the ground earlier in the afternoon, but this was a meeting between two sides of vastly different means.

In these parts money talks and Boudjellal could afford to turn his nose up at an extra €500-700,000 in ticket sales by snubbing the Velodrome in favour of a berth here and admitted afterwards he would dearly love to be welcoming Munster here in three weeks’ time.

By the end, the try count was only 2-1 in Toulon’s favour but how that happened is something of a mystery as one side hammered away at the try line while the other made maybe one meaningful visit to the opposition 22.

All the big stats spoke volumes about Leinster’s troubles.

Toulon had 59% of territory, seven clean line breaks to just two and beat 26 defenders to 10. Leinster also missed 26 tackles, but those numbers still come up short in describing how one-sided it was.

The game, built-up as the tie of the quarter-final round beforehand, never reached the heights hoped for in terms of spectacle. There were too many errors for that, but the intensity and colour of the occasion still lent it an epic feel.

The temperature climbed well above 20 degrees before kick-off and the stadium famous for its atmosphere and city centre surrounds lived up to its billing with a large smattering of blue dotted around the atmospheric setting.

Leinster did well to survive the initial onslaught after Wayne Barnes got the game under way. Mathieu Bastareaud and lock Daniel Rossouw were to the fore as the meat and might of Toulon pounded away at the blue defensive line.

Juan Smith made it to within inches of the away try line within the opening minute but Leinster survived that and a succession of further poundings relatively intact, with just two penalties conceded in the first 18 minutes.

One of the chief subplots prior to kick-off had been the two old war horses, Jonny Wilkinson and Brian O’Driscoll, for one of whom this would prove be their swan song in the Heineken Cup before retirement kicks in.

The sight of Wilkinson walking off 28 minutes in after damaging the hamstring which kept him out of last week’s game against Toulouse fed a growing belief that Leinster may well have weathered the worst of the storm.

By then Jimmy Gopperth had already put them on the board with a penalty and the Kiwi out-half added another soon after Wilkinson’s departure.

What the game lacked in pattern and prettiness it made up for in passion and Toulon generated plenty of it on the restart with Matt Giteau tapping over a penalty and loosehead Xavier Chiocci adding a try all within five minutes.

Leinster were complicit in their own downfall. Shane Jennings was guilty of the first indiscretion — his third of the day which cost nine points in total — while Devin Toner got caught badly in allowing hooker Craig Burden burst through the gain line.

Gopperth kept their interest alive with a third penalty but winger Drew Mitchell claimed Toulon’s second try with 17 minutes left and it seemed only fitting that it should have germinated from a botched Leinster lineout. It was that kind of day.

Jordi Murphy raised a faint cheer from the visiting fans with a try for Leinster after 71 minutes but it was their only meaningful visit to the Toulon 22 all day and even that was sandwiched by two Giteau penalties.

A chastening experience for Leinster, all told, but was it an off-day or a seminal day? Only time will tell.

TOULON: D Armitage; D Mitchell, M Bastareaud, M Giteau, D Smith; J Wilkinson, S Tillous-Borde; X Chiocci, C Burden, C Hayman, D Rossouw, J Suta, J Smith, JF Lobbe, S Armitage.

Replacements: M Mermoz for Wilkinson (27), JC Orioli for Burden (50), F Fresia for Chiocci (60), M Claasens for Tillous-Borde, M Konstantin for Rossouw (both 67), M Castrogiovanni for Hayman (69), V Bruni for Fernandez-Lobbe (70).

LEINSTER: R Kearney; F McFadden, B O’Driscoll, G D’Arcy, D Kearney; J Gopperth, E Reddan; C Healy, R Strauss, M Ross, D Toner, M McCarthy, R Ruddock, S Jennings, J Heaslip.

Replacements: Z Kirchner for McFadden (27), S Cronin for Strauss (49), J Murphy for Jennings (53), M Moore for Ross (59), J McGrath for Healy (65), I Madigan for Gopperth (67), L Cullen for McCarthy (70), I Boss for Reddan (76).

Referee: Wayne Barnes (England).