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Edinburgh outclass troubled Toulon, Wasps and Bath play out thrilling draw
By Peter Hanson
Toulon's miserable start to the European Champions Cup continued as Edinburgh stormed to a 40-14 bonus-point Pool 5 victory, while Wasps and Bath played out a thrilling 10-try draw.
A week on from a surprise defeat to Newcastle Falcons, Top 14 heavyweights Toulon were outclassed at Murrayfield as director of rugby Richard Cockerill enjoyed a resounding win against his former employers.
Powerful Fijian flanker Viliame Mata impressed for the hosts, while Ben Toolis, Henry Pyrgos, Stuart McInally and Chris Dean all scored tries, and Jaco van der Walt added 18 points with the boot.
Edinburgh consequently rebounded from last week's loss to Montpellier, who play Newcastle on Sunday, while Toulon have just a solitary point.
Wasps, without Christian Wade in their squad amid reports he is to leave the club to try his hand in the NFL, produced a stirring second-half comeback to draw 35-35 against Bath.
It looked as though Bath would rebound from an opening-round loss to Toulouse – a match notable for Freddie Burns' comical late clanger and some controversial officiating - when Joe Cokanasiga, Max Wright and Semesa Rokoduguni helped the visitors to a 21-7 half-time lead.
Wasps turned the match on its head when Joe Simpson, Zurab Zhvania and Ashley Johnson scored converted tries in a 10-minute salvo, only for scores from Charlie Ewels and Francois Louw to put Bath back in front.
A converted score from Thomas Young, son of Wasps boss Dai, pulled the hosts level 10 minutes from time, before Alex Davies missed a late penalty that would have won the game for Bath.
Racing 92, last season's runners-up, impressed with a 44-12 rout of Ulster in Pool 4. Juan Imhoff, Teddy Thomas and Simon Zebo scored in the second half, after Teddy Iribaren and Wenceslas Lauret crossed in the opening 40 minutes.
Danny Cipriani was shown a red card for a high tackle on Rory Scannell as Gloucester went down 36-22 at Munster, who earned a bonus point, in a match that saw the hosts finish with 13 men after Sammy Arnold and Stephen Archer went into the sin-bin.
Top 14 champions Castres defeated Exeter Chiefs 29-25 in Pool 2's other fixture despite Maama Vaipulu's first-half red card, and in Pool 3 Maro Itoje, Sean Maitland, Brad Barritt and Alex Lewington scored in Saracens' 29-10 beating of Lyon.
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Latest Comments
I didn't mean to sound down on Dmac. Just looking hard at the bench sub's role of providing impact. I don't think he can do that at 15, and the bench is not really about injury cover anymore (you need to maximise it's use more than that).
He's my first choice of any New Zealander for the 10 jersey with the All Blacks.
Go to commentsAgreed. And I don't have much more to say on it, but I had been having one thought that sprang to mind at the tail of this discussion, and that is that it's not all about Razor.
It's not about any coach being "right". I think a lot of selections can become defense and while it doesn't really apply here I really enjoyed that Andy Farrell just gave into the public demands and changed out his team for the change that had been asked for. Like why not? This is the countries team, keep them engaged. The whole reason i've only just finished watching the game was because I wasn't interested in watching any of the selected players against a team like Italy (still actually enjoyed the first half with the contest Italy made of it).
Faz leap frogs a younger half back into start. He hands the golden child the game over July's golden child. He gives an old winger a go, a new flanker and hooker. None of them really did any good, certainly not enough to suggest they should have been promoted above others, but who cares? You won, and you gave the country what they wanted, that's all that matters after all. It's for the country, not the one in charge who thinks they have to have their own pied piper tune playing.
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