Scotland centres Sione Tuipulotu and Huw Jones were on top of their games on Friday evening as Glasgow Warriors secured their place in the Investec Champions Cup last-16 with a comprehensive 29-5 victory over Toulon.
Jones produced a man-of-the-match performance in the victory, scoring two tries and assisting another as he shone alongside his likely centre partner in the Six Nations, Tuipulotu.
sealed the bonus-point victory thanks to Jones’ brace as well as a pair from winger Kyle Rowe and one for Josh McKay. George Horne added two conversions.
only try of the match came through winger Gael Drean.
Toulon head coach Pierre Mignoni made 14 changes to his starting XV from the one that was defeated by Munster last weekend. This led to many assuming that the French outfit had given up on their chance of making the .
Meanwhile, Glasgow knew a win would seal their place in the play-offs and – unlike their opponents – they would not need a favour from another team in their pool to progress. This meant that head coach Franco Smith was taking no chances and included 11 internationals in his side, including skipper Kyle Steyn and powerhouse number eight Jack Dempsey.
However, it was the Top 14 side that started the match better and put the hosts under early pressure.
They even had an opportunity to take the lead through centre Mathieu Smaili’s boot. However, the kicker missed his first shot at goal in the 11th minute.
Having survived Toulon’s pressure and created a few chances of their own, Glasgow looked to have opened the scoring when full-back McKay tore through the Toulon defence and raced away to score what looked to be a glorious solo try. However, his effort was ruled out upon a TMO review as prop Lucio Sordoni and lock Scott Cummins were deemed to have obstructed the Toulon defence, creating the space for McKay to race through.
Glasgow would eventually break through the defence thanks largely to the efforts of their popular centre pairing ‘Huwipulotu’, Jones and Tuipulotu; the latter drifted off the pace of the latter and managed to brilliantly free his arm up to send winger Rowe sprinting through to score.
Jones would turn from provider to scorer as the Huwipulotu combination had the final say of the first half. He ran a delightful short line to charge through the Toulon defence and over the try line untouched. Horne added the conversion on the second try as Glasgow led 12-0 at the break.
Toulon would open their account as the rain started to pelt down during the opening stages of the second half. The move was kickstarted by full-back Aymeric Luc, who put in an expert crosskick to centre Setariki Tuicuvu, who would make it up to the 5m line. Toulon held onto the ball well before Drean finished off the score after a lovely floated pass from Jeremy Sinzelle.
It would take some time for Glasgow to respond, but when they did, it was emphatic as replacement hooker Johnny Matthews, who is known for his try-scoring heroics, turned provider with a miss pass out to McKay, who finally got his try with an easy walk in, on the hour mark.
Just four minutes later and, Jones had his second. The centre punished Toulon for their poor overthrown lineout when he received the ball out wide and paused before skipping past two defenders and sprinting away to score on what proved to be his final act of the game.
Toulon went in search of a consolation score in the latter stages of the game, but it was not to be, and when the hosts’ turned over the ball, they pounced on their chance to rub salt in the French side’s wounds and improve their points difference.
Having worked their way just short of the line, Tuipulotu linked up with fly-half Tom Jordan, who threaded a skip pass out to Rowe, who had another simple finish in the corner to seal the 29-5 victory.
The result means that Glasgow has sealed their place in the play-offs while Toulon’s European rugby journey in 2023/24 is over as they fail to qualify for the Challenge Cup and finish bottom of the pool.
Glasgow: 15 Josh McKay, 14 Kyle Steyn (c), 13 Huw Jones, 12 Sione Tuipulotu, 11 Kyle Rowe, 10 Tom Jordan, 9 George Horne, 8 Jack Dempsey, 7 Matt Fagerson, 6 Ally Miller, 5 Richie Gray, 4 Max Williamson, 3 Lucio Sordoni, 2 George Turner, 1 Jamie Bhatti
Replacements: 16 Johnny Matthews, 17 Oli Kebble, 18 Zander Fagerson, 19 Scott Cummings, 20 Euan Ferrie, 21 Henco Venter, 22 Ben Afshar, 23 Stafford McDowall
Toulon: 15 Aymeric Luc, 14 Gaël Drean, 13 Setariki Tuicuvu, 12 Mathieu Smaili, 11 Gabin Villiere, 10 Jérémy Sinzelle, 9 Vaso Lobzhanidze, 8 Facundo Isa, 7 Matteo le Corvec, 6 Jules Coulon, 5 Adrien Warion, 4 Swan Rebbadj, 3 Emerick Setiano, 2 Teddy Baubigny (c), 1 Bruce Devaux
Replacements: 16 Jack Singleton, 17 Fabio Gonzalez, 18 Beka Gigashvili, 19 Matthias Halagahu, 20 Selevasio Tolofua, 21 Jules Danglot, 22 Enzo Herve, 23 Maelan Rabut
Referee: Matthew Carley (Eng)
Assistant Referees: Andrew Jackson (Eng), Gareth Holsgrove (Eng)
TMO: Ian Tempest (Eng)
