Leicester Tigers inflicted the first defeat on champions Toulon in the European Rugby Champions Cup for more than a year with a 25-21 success at Welford Road on Sunday.
The twice former winners and five-time finalists had to dig deep to hold off the winners from the last two seasons, despite being outscored two tries to one.
Their losing bonus point kept Toulon top of Pool 3 despite tasting defeat in the competition for the first time since a 19-15 reverse at Cardiff Blues in October last year.
Photo: AFP
Leicester are second a point behind, with Ulster two points further back, while Scarlets are bottom.
World Cup-winning New Zealander Brad Thorn crossed the whitewash for Leicester, for whom Welsh flyhalf Owen Williams, surprisingly picked ahead of Freddie Burns, scored 20 points.
“It’s a great win. It is the best we have probably played for 18 months,” Leicester rugby director Richard Cockerill said.
Tries from another World Cup winner, Bryan Habana, and former Wallaby Drew Mitchell were not enough to earn Toulon a victory.
After opening the scoring on 10 minutes with a penalty, Williams was gifted the chance to add a second when former Tiger Martin Castrogiovanni’s excessive aggression at a ruck saw a penalty for Toulon overturned in Leicester’s favor.
The hosts extended their lead on 19 minutes after Australian wing Mitchell fumbled following Mathew Tait’s long kick forward and Tom Youngs scooped up the ball before offloading to 39-year-old Thorn to barge over, with Williams adding the extras for a 13-0 lead.
Argentina flyhalf Nicolas Sanchez landed two penalties to bring the champions back into contention, but five minutes before the break, Williams threw a loose pass that was picked off by South Africa flyer Habana, who ran the ball back 55m to score as Toulon went into the break level at 13-13.
Williams kicked the Tigers back into the lead early in the second half after Toulon were penalized at a scrum.
However, the champions won a Leicester scrum on the English team’s 22 and scrumhalf Sebastien Tillous-Borde darted down the blind side before putting in Mitchell to dot down.
However, Williams landed three more penalties to just one from Sanchez as Leicester held on for victory.
Earlier, two-time champions Wasps roared back into contention for a quarter-final place with a bonus point 32-17 win away at ailing French side Castres.
However, Harlequins took control of Pool 2 with a 24-18 victory over three-time champions Leinster in London.
That put them clear on top with 12 points, three ahead of the Irish, who took a losing bonus point, while Wasps are another two points further back.
Wasps scored four tries to earn a bonus point, their third in three European games this season.
“This pool is very, very difficult. We’ve got a long way to go before we worry about qualifying,” head coach Dai Young said.
Wasps got off to a dream start as fullback Rob Miller touched down in the fourth minute, but Castres hit back almost immediately as hooker Mathieu Bonnello went over.
Ashley Johnson’s quick hands set up Wasps’ Kiwi No. 8 Nathan Hughes for another try, but center Remi Lamerat’s try made it 15-14 at the break.
Wasps scored a penalty try as Sitiveni Sivivatu was controversially yellow-carded for denying Tom Varndell a score with a high tackle, before Sailosi Tagicakibau rounded off the try-scoring against 14 men.
At the Twickenham Stoop, Harlequins scored the only two tries through No. 8 Nick Easter and an 80m interception return from Asaeli Tikoirotuma, to beat Leinster 24-18.
In Pool 4, record four-time champions Toulouse took over top spot from Glasgow by beating the Scottish side 19-11 in France.
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