Following Toulon’s narrow and thrilling 30-29 win over Glasgow Warriors in France, here are our winners and losers from the clash.
Winners
Leicester Fainga’anuku
The All Black who is set to return to New Zealand issued a timely reminder of his immense quality with a brace of tries from his boatload of carries. Fainga’anuku is so strong in the contact point and this was a crucial area for Toulon in this game. It certainly was a kind of performance that will have Scott Robertson smiling from ear to ear as he awaits his former player in the land of the long white cloud.
Kyle Sinckler
The former England man rolled back the years with a stunning performance where he made mincemeat of Jamie Bhatti in the scrum. On defence he was the top tackler of the entire game with an impressive 15 for a man of his size. On attack he had some neat touches too. Anyone who wonders why Sinckler had so many England and Lions caps should watch that match back to educate themselves.
Facundo Isa
Rampant. The man of the match has always been a player who relishes the contact and he got his hands on the ball when he could, topping the running metres for his team. He also made 11 tackles in a very busy performance that perhaps will have Felipe Contepomi of Argentina thinking about his back-row options.
Sione Tuipulotu
Whether 12 or 13 it doesn’t matter, the Scotland skipper is pure class and it showed again. He couldn’t engineer a win for his team tonight but carried more than 50 metres. He always shows such composure near the contact point whether he goes in himself or hands off to a teammate. He would hate losing but he certainly did his bit.
Olujare Oguntibeju
Mammoth! Both in sheer size and in the shift the second-row put in. Oguntibeju’s physicality is his superpower and that showed when he barged through a pair of Toulon defenders to score his try. Outside of that he made some telling hits and was a menace at times in the lineout. At 22 he has huge potential especially with his gargantuan frame.
Josh McKay
An elusive runner with his four defenders beat the most of everyone in this Champions Cup clash. McKay is a silky operator and was rewarded with a lovely try for his efforts. It is easy to see why he is a mainstay in Glasgow colours but he would be gutted with the result.
Losers
Glasgow front-row
Bhatti conceded a whopping four penalties as Sinckler went to work on the Scot. Ultimately this facet of the game really hampered Glasgow’s progress and it was only later in the game where they came right but unfortunately for the Scots the damage was done.
Toulon cards
Even with the yellow it was so tempting to put the influential Baptiste Serin in the winners column but he must be held accountable for the time off. He wasn’t the only one with Lewis Ludlam also spending time on the naughty chair while Marius Damon almost let Glasgow in with his silly knockdown yellow.
Duncan Weir
Not a performance the experienced fly-half will remember fondly as he struggled throughout as a playmaker and was eventually replaced on the hour mark. More was needed from the 33-year-old and perhaps Glasgow should have kept Tom Jordan in the driver’s seat for back-to-back games in this competition.
