RC Toulon crush Glasgow Warriors in European Challenge Cup final after dominant performance

RC Toulon crushed Glasgow Warriors’ dreams of becoming the first Scottish side to win a continental trophy, after cruising to a 19-43 in the European Challenge Cup final at the Aviva Stadium.

The French side were dominant from the start and opened the scoring with only five minutes gone, as Baptiste Serin brilliantly held off Ollie Smith to score before converting his own try.

That lead was doubled with less than 20 minutes on the clock when Sergio Parisse eased his way past Huw Jones, and Serin was on hand to convert once again.

It was 21-0 to the French side when Waisea Nayacalevu ploughed his way forward, and was brought down with the try line in sight before Serin finished off the job.

With a huge deficit at half-time, it already looked to be a case of damage limitation for Franco Smith’s side after being left desperately short in a dismal first-half display.

Glasgow began the second half with renewed vigour, but missed a huge chance to get some points on the board as Sebastian Cancelliere and Ollie Smith collided with each other to see a try opportunity go begging.

It was turning into a chastening evening for the Scots, as Benoit Paillaugue extended Toulon’s lead to 24-0 with a penalty.

There was a rare reprieve for Glasgow when Charles Ollivon’s try was ruled out for offside, and Smith’s men went onto cut into Toulon’s lead.

Kyle Steyn reduced the arrears with a fine finish after being brilliantly picked out by Ali Price, but their joy was short lived.

Toulon scored try number four thanks to some sterling work from Jiuta Wainiqolo, who latched onto Cheslin Kolbe’s pass and held off Smith to make it 7-29 in favour of the French side.

Franck Azema’s side were like a steam train and showed no mercy in extending their lead to 7-34 thanks to Waisea Nayacalevu, before a successful conversion that increased their advantage to 7-36.

The Scots restored some pride when Sebastian Cancelliere took advantage of some sloppy line-out play from Toulon, but George Horne could not add the conversion to sum up Glasgow’s frustrations on the night to leave the score at 12-36.

Steyn scored his second try of the evening in the corner, before Horne was successful with the conversion to add some respectability to the scoreline.

But Azema’s men had the final word and finished the match with 43 points on the board, after Ihaia West scored the final try of the match before a successful conversion to cap off a fine night’s work.