Jonny Wilkinson kicked 17 points on his Toulon debut to help his new employers earn a 22-22 draw with Stade Francais.
Haskell, one of four Englishmen in action, yellow-carded for Stade
Jonny Wilkinson kicked 17 points on his Toulon debut to help his new employers earn a 22-22 draw with Stade Francais.
The opening fixture of the new Top 14 season between two of the competition's big spenders provided plenty of drama.
Wilkinson seemed to have snatched the win for the home team with an opportunistic drop goal with nine minutes to play, but South African Falie Oelschig replied with his second drop of the match to level the scores at the death.
Argentine number eight Juan Leguizamon's opening try for the visitors was cancelled out when Toulon flank Thomas Sourice leveled the scores at 10 apiece after Wilkinson and Oelschig had each slotted a penalty in the first half.
Imported kickers
The imported kickers would continue to trade three-pointers to the end as Oelschig shifted to fly-half in place of Brian Liebenberg to allow Julien Dupuy to come on at scrum-half in the second period.
Wilkinson slotted over four penalties, a conversion and a drop goal but was mixed in open play with a number of handling errors in the second half.
The fly-half was not the only Englishman on show at a sold-out Stade Felix Mayol. Former Newcastle team-mate Tom May was also making his first start for Toulon.
On the opposite side were the familiar faces of Tom Palmer and James Haskell, who picked up a needless yellow card in the opening half but redeemed himself with a strong display after the break.
However, it was Wilkinson who made the first impression when he slotted over a 35-yard penalty to break the deadlock.
Leguizamon's try and a conversion and penalty from Oelschig then put Stade 10-3 ahead.
Wilkinson was unable to reduce the deficit when he missed a three-pointer which he had earned himself having been dumped to the ground by Stade winger Djibril Camara.
No mistake
The 30-year-old made no mistake with his conversion attempt following Thomas Sourice's try in the 20th minute and he also booted over an injury-time penalty to make it 13-10 after former Wasps forward Haskell had cynically played the ball on the ground at a ruck.
A further six points from the left foot of Wilkinson in the opening ten minutes of the second half put Toulon 19-13 up.
But, in between Oelschig levelling the scores with six points of his own, the World Cup winner failed to knock over a tough penalty from the right touchline.
Despite the miss Wilkinson continued to be pivotal in the game and with 10 minutes left a drop goal from long range had Toulon 22-19 up.
Stade refused to go away, though, and with only three minutes left to play Oelschig matched Wilkinson's personal tally to make sure honours ended even.
