Racing 92 secure 19-16 victory over Toulon in Champions Cup
Last Updated: 10/04/16 10:37pm
Toulon's three-season reign as the champions of Europe is over after they were beaten 19-16 in their Champions Cup quarter-final by Racing 92 on Sunday.
A 78th-minute penalty from the boot of French scrum-half Maxime Machenaud kicked Racing into their first semi-final, knocking out the reigning champions.
Machenaud took over the goal-kicking duties from Dan Carter who sustained a leg injury, but the 27-year-old was shaky off the tee, missing with three earlier attempts. But he kept his nerve when it mattered most to send his side into a semi-final date with Leicester Tigers.
The home side started brightly at the Stade Yves du Manoir, racing into a 10-point lead within the space of three minutes.
The points started to flow from the kick-off as the referee penalised Charles Ollivon at the first ruck on the Toulon 22-metre line, and Carter made no mistake with a simple shot at goal.
Carter was back in action a few minutes later when Argentinian wing Juan Imhoff latched onto an interception on halfway from Maxime Mermoz before racing to the corner. Carter added the extras from wide out.
The champions were on the ropes, but the returning Matt Giteau steadied the ship from outside half and when Josua Tuisova evaded the attention of Racing lock Francois van der Merwe and advanced into the home 22, Ollivon was on hand to take the off-load and atone for his earlier error with a try.
Jonathan Pelissie added the conversion to make it 17 points in 10 minutes between the sides before kicking a further penalty on the stroke of half-time to level the scores at 10-10.
Toulon got the better of the early exchanges in the second half as Pelissie stepped up to kick another penalty four minutes after the interval. But no sooner had they got their noses in front, Toulon gave away two penalties in succession.
With Carter struggling with a knee medial ligament injury, Machenaud took over the goal-kicking duties and having missed one at the end of the first half, he missed another early in the second.
He then made amends when he got another shot to level the scores at 13-13 before putting Racing into a 16-13 lead on 53 minutes.
Pelissie responded on the hour, making it 16-16, before the game reached a dramatic finale.
Delon Armitage and Machenaud missed good chances in the final 10 minutes, but the latter's 20-metre penalty two minutes from time sent Racing through.
