Clermont defeated Toulon 29-9 on Sunday to set up a European Champions Cup semi-final against Leinster.
Clermont were favourites coming into this all-French quarter-final, but Toulon were expected to put up more of a fight. In the end, the former champions, littered with internationals, produced a rudderless performance as they failed to progress to the semi-finals for the first time in five seasons.
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Despite Clermont’s dominance, the sides headed into the break locked at 6-6, thanks to two penalties each from Leigh Halfpenny and Morgan Parra.
The kicking duel continued after the interval, but once the score reached 9-9, Clermont started to shut out Toulon and took control. Wing Noa Nakaitaci scored Clermont’s first try before flyhalf Camille Lopez followed that up with a drop goal for a 10-point advantage.
Toulon never looked like scoring, and when Parra hit his fourth penalty, the contest was effectively over, although Clermont did manage to run in a late try to polish the scoreboard further.
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Clermont – Tries: Noa Nakaitaci, Damien Penaud. Conversions: Morgan Parra (2). Penalties: Parra (4). Drop goal: Camille Lopez.
Toulon – Penalties: Leigh Halfpenny.
Clermont – 15 Scott Spedding, 14 Noa Nakaitaci, 13 Aurélien Rougerie, 12 Rémi Lamerat, 11 Nick Abendanon, 10 Camille Lopez, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Fritz Lee, 7 Peceli Yato, 6 Damien Chouly, 5 Sébastien Vahaamahina, 4 Arthur Iturria, 3 Davit Zirakashvili, 2 Benjamin Kayser, 1 Raphaël Chaum.
Subs: 16 John Ulugia, 17 Etienne Falgoux, 18 Aaron Jarvis, 19 Flip van der Merwe, 20 Judicaël Cancoriet, 21 Ludovic Radosavljevic, 22 Pato Fernandez, 23 Damien Penaud.
Toulon – 15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Drew Mitchell, 13 Mathieu Bastareaud, 12 Ma’a Nonu, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 François Trinh-Duc, 9 Éric Escande, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Liam Gill, 6 Juan Smith, 5 Romain Taofifénua, 4 Juandré Kruger, 3 Levan Chilachava, 2 Guilhem Guirado, 1 Laurent Delboulbès.
Subs: 16 Anthony Etrillard, 17 Florian Fresia, 18 Marcel van der Merwe, 19 Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe, 20 Anthony Belleau, 21 Josua Tuisova, 22 Sébastien Tillous-Borde, 23 Jocelino Suta.
Photo: Getty Images
