Toulon overcame soft-spoken Glasgow Warriors to claim the European Challenge Cup and give the retiring Sergio Parisse the perfect send-off.
The 39-year-old Italian legend scored between two tries for the christened Serene as the French side led 21-0 at the break.
Glasgow never looked like becoming the first Scottish side to win a European trophy, despite Kyle Steyn’s counter-attack, as Fijians Giota Vainikolo and Vesa Nyakalio extended Toulon’s lead.
Sebastian Cancelliere and Steyn salvaged some pride for Glasgow, but Toulon deservedly had the last laugh as Ihaia West clinched the club’s first Challenge Cup with two minutes remaining.
Toulon displayed bravery in the 2nd Battalion by Sirin, Niacalio, Cheslin Colby and Charles Olyon, but all eyes were finally on Paris.
The wonder man was at his best as he has been virtually every day of his extraordinary career.
Glasgow fans might not have minded saluting him, but everyone in rugby would have done so heartily. He’ll be out of the game in the blink of an eye, but the legacy? Sensational, absolutely sensational.
Glasgow quietly believed they could spoil the farewell, but to do so would have required them to come to Dublin and they didn’t. In the body, yes. Attitude and precision and every last thing you need to win the grand final? Nowhere near. They will regret this drubbing.
In their wildest dreams Glasgow could not have imagined such a dire final, a non-performance when what they needed was their greatest performance. They were an inconsistent mess and a bit of a sorry affair in going down 21-0 as they worked extremely hard to make a game of it.
They had plenty of attacking minutes in the opening half, excellent field position, five meter scrums, five meter lineouts, overlaps and they used each of them with a lack of accuracy, panic and some bad decision making. killed.
Glasgow needed a lot more than soft touch rugby if they were to give themselves half a chance of digging themselves out of the hole they were in, but a dramatic comeback never looked likely. Toulon just waited in defense and waited for Glasgow to cough up.
It all went so wrong, so soon for the underdogs. Toulon had lost four out of four Challenge Cup finals – and lost Dean Bigger within minutes – but were screaming hot favorites to win it before the first quarter was over.
Seren was injured at the break but did a lot of damage in the 40 minutes he played.
His first effort was opportunistic brilliance, a fine grubber through the narrowest of gaps in the Glasgow 22 and a quick-fire pick-up and finish. ruthless. And too fast for Glasgow. Seren’s conversion made it 7-0 and the Scots were horrified.
Tolan soon made them suffer again. Glasgow coach Franco Smith made some terrible calls in his team selection when leaving Johnny Matthews, his try-scoring hooker, Richie Gray, his lineout kingpin and Rory Darge, his back-row wreaker, on the bench. Who were All three calls backfired horribly.
Glasgow’s line-out was disastrous. The great Paris try started with a Warriors error, a ball bounced down and round Toulon. Paris exploded nearby.
Toulon put an end to Glasgow mistakes and had another on the lineout which led to a third score for the French. The throwers, the lifters, the jumpers were all at sea as the ball rolled back to Charles Olyon.
In the next wave, Nayacalevu outscored Sione Tuipulotu in midfield. While they were within striking distance, Seren dropped a dummy near the Glasgow line and the Warriors bought it.
Over he scores his second, the over changes and the Glasgow fans go wild. At 21-0, there was no coming back. What remained to be decided at that point – and we were only in the 25th minute – was how bad it was going to be. Horribly bad, as it turned out.
Toulon was on a different level. It helped that he lacked anything resembling cohesion and conviction after being in a good position in Glasgow, but the gulf in class was stark.
The pain was piling up. Benoit Pelog lobbed a penalty to make it 24-0 and even Vinicolo danced straight after when Steyn finished smartly from the short side to get Glasgow on the board.
Tolan was patient and powerful in his phases, turning the screws as he went. The brilliant Nayacalevu came to the end of those impenetrable stretches of play, stretching the lead to 29 points through a crumbling defence.
Glasgow Cavalry came off the bench. It is too late. Cancelliere and a second from Stein took the ugly look off the score but it meant nothing, with West’s late effort rubbing further salt in the wound in any case.
The final was long before it all unfolded, all the glory belonged to Toulon. Especially Paris. His last big day and he went out in style.
