Heieneken Cup: Toulon score nine tries in drubbing of Sale Sharks

Steffon Armitage: Was a threat all match and scored a try

Frederic Michalak: Scored 20 points, including a try

Toulon moved five points clear at the top of Heineken Cup Pool 6 after handing out a 62-0 thrashing to a hapless Sale outfit at Stade Mayol.

The lopsided scoreline did not flatter the French side as they enjoyed almost all of the territory and possession, which they converted into a total of nine tries.

Sale offered nothing going forward and although they defended well in the early stages, Toulon's attacking prowess was far too much for them to handle.

Toulon piled on the pressure straight from the kick-off, with Richie Gray narrowly denying Steffon Armitage a try before Frederick Michalak opened the scoring with a penalty.

The home side continued to have all of the play and looked to have got their first try in the 25th minute, only for Bakkies Botha's effort to be ruled out by the television match official.

Matt Giteau and Maxime Mermoz then both went close before Jean-Charles Orioli finally took Toulon over the line following a powerful maul, with Michalak adding the extras.

Pierrick Gunther was then held up over the line, but shortly afterwards Michalak's grounding was clear after he jinked past Danny Cipriani and the fly-half's conversion made it 17-0 at half-time.

The second half started in much the same vein as Joe Van Niekerk sauntered over for the third try of the match, with Sale's woes compounded when Fraser McKenzie was sin-binned.

The hosts capitalised to claim the bonus point as Davit Kubriashvili crashed over from close range and even a yellow card for Simon Shaw could not stop the onslaught as Armitage burrowed over after a fine team move.

Armitage's brother Delon then grabbed Toulon's sixth try, beating a static Sale defence to collect his own kick through and touch down, with Gitaeu setting up Van Niekerk for his second of the match soon after.

Rudi Wulf then strolled across the line to complete a move which started with opposite wing David Smith barging his way through a string of tackles. Smith completed the scoring with a try of his own late on.

Michalak converted six of the tries in total, with Jonny Wilkinson adding another after coming off the bench.

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