You had to have a strong heart this Sunday afternoon in Mayol. In front of 11,300 supporters, the Toulonnais certainly won the quarter-finals of the Challenge Cup, but it was difficult. At the end of a tense and suspenseful meeting, the RCT ended up coming out 19-18 against a very good team from London Irish.
The 35th minute: the turning point
Jostled, suffocated by English pressure, the Toulonnais cash a 10-0 from the start of the meeting. The turning point comes in the 35th minute and a scuffle between scrum-half Baptiste Serin and an English player. Both receive a yellow card and the meeting is stopped for a few minutes, the time of the video arbitration. Just after this fact of match, the RCT seems transformed and finally in its quarter-final. Pushed by Mayol, the team is no longer the same when they return from the locker room. Aggressive and conquering, Franck Azéma’s men came back to the score and went ahead thanks to a try from the captain, Charles Ollivon.
But the English don’t give up. They even come back at one point, seven minutes from the end following a sensational try from Henry Arundell. Leaving his camp, the young Englishman will run all over the field and flatten in the opposing camp. Despite this scare, Toulon held firm and qualified for the semi-finals. See you now next Saturday at 9 p.m. in Mayol against a formidable adversary: the English Saracens. In the other semi-final, Lyon will host another English club, Les Wasps.