Toulon’s Steffon Armitage scored a hat-trick as the European champions crushed Ulster 60-22 to become the first team to book a place in the quarter-finals of the new European Champions Cup.
Armitage, the European player of the year, again demonstrated his excellence and power as he led the French side’s eight-try rout.
Toulon’s international “galactico” lineup ran riot against the injury-hit former champions with try scorers from six different countries.
Englishman Armitage was joined on the scoresheet by Argentina’s Nicolas Sanchez, South Africa’s Bryan Habana, Frenchman Mathieu Bastareaud, Italian Martin Castrogiovanni and Georgian Mamuka Gorgodze. Welshman Leigh Halfpenny chipped in with 20 points with the boot.
Yet it was Armitage who again stole the show. In World Cup year, the back row forward’s continued brilliance must be exercising the mind of England coach Stuart Lancaster, who does not consider him for selection because he is playing outside the country.
The victory means Toulon cannot be caught for top spot in Pool 3 and they have sealed a home tie in the last eight of the inaugural Champions Cup.
Last season, they won the Heineken Cup — which has been replaced by the Champions Cup — against Saracens, who — despite beating Munster 33-10 at Allianz Park on Saturday — face an uphill task at Clermont Auvergne to guarantee a quarter-final spot.
Sarries had been desperate for a bonus point to enhance their last-eight chances, especially with their final Pool 1 match being at the French giants next week.
Yet despite two tries by Chris Ashton and another from Chris Wyles before halftime, and although inspired by a towering performance from Billy Vunipola, they fell just short.
Clermont, with a hard-earned 22-13 win at Sale Sharks, sealed by a try from Samoan Fritz Lee, are in pole position, a point clear of Saracens as they go into Sunday’s showdown which will ensure a last-eight berth for the victors.
Another winner-takes-all clash is set for the Ricoh Stadium where twice European champions Wasps, inspired to a 23-3 win at Harlequins by James Haskell’s man-of-the-match performance, will play three-time winners Leinster.
Doping fears prevented former US Open champion Emma Raducanu from treating insect bites on the eve of the Australian Open, she said, with players increasingly wary about ingesting contaminated substances. The British player was speaking in the wake of high-profile doping cases involving Iga Swiatak and Jannik Sinner. “I would say all of us are probably quite sensitive to what we take on board, what we use,” the 22-year-old said, recalling an incident on Friday. “I got really badly bitten by, I don’t know what, like ants, mosquitoes, something. I’m allergic, I guess,” she added. The bites “flared up and swelled up really a
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