Glasgow’s dream of becoming the first Scottish team to secure a major European rugby title was comprehensively shattered in Dublin on Friday by a Toulon side who claimed their own little slice of history. The French club had lost all four of their previous Challenge Cup finals but ran in six tries in a comfortable win over below-par opponents who only spluttered into life late on.
Even the early loss of a dazed Dan Biggar could not throw Toulon off the scent, with French scrum-half Baptiste Serin contributing 16 points and the soon-to-retire Sergio Parisse, now 39, scoring a valedictory try. Glasgow did their best to recover after going 21-0 down inside the first 25 minutes but never looked like conjuring an improbable comeback on what was, atmosphere wise, a disappointingly low-key evening. Aside from a brace of second-half tries for captain Kyle Steyn and another consolation effort for Sebastián Cancelliere, Glasgow could make relatively few inroads and the final margin could have been wider.
It brought a triumphant end to Toulon’s long list of previous disappointments in this competition. Starting with Cardiff in 2010 they had also finished runners-up behind Biarritz, Bristol and Lyon, most recently in Marseille last year. As a club more often associated with winning a hat-trick of European Cups between 2013 and 2015, it was a habit they were visibly keen to kick.
They also had plenty of players more than accustomed to the biggest stage. Charles Ollivon has captained France, Parisse has led Italy and Biggar has skippered Wales. The latter, though, was jogging back down the tunnel after only four minutes, having taken a high blow in the early seconds. He was reluctant to go off but it would have been a dereliction of medical duty, under the current head injury protocols, had he not been checked out.
It did not remotely affect Toulon’s purposeful mood. With nothing much on, Serin collected his own little grubber kick and surged to the line only for the ball to be seemingly held up in the tackle. Referee Wayne Barnes decided he had seen enough, however, and waved away any possible review.
On a mild, still evening, Serin potted the easy conversion but then missed a slightly longer penalty. It mattered little with Glasgow finding it almost impossible to escape their own half for any length of time and Toulon had a second try on the board inside the first quarter.
Parisse has had a remarkable career, winning 142 Test caps for Italy between 2002 and 2019, but this is his swansong year. There was no shortage of visible emotion, then, when the shiny-domed No 8 burst past the tackle of Huw Jones to score a try which underlined both his enduring desire and athleticism.
Could Glasgow somehow get a grip? Whether it was the occasion or simply the strength of the opposition, they were struggling for any kind of foothold even before Serin, with a lovely show and go, plunged over for the second time in the 25th minute before adding a third conversion. With just under an hour still to play, the Warriors were already in need of a minor miracle.
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Moments before the half-time whistle, though, Serin was injured while touching the ball down in goal behind his own line and Toulon were minus a second key playmaker. A flurry of Glasgow replacements appeared in a vain bid to inject some fresh momentum but, even following Steyn’s nice finish, cutting in on the angle from the left touchline, it made little difference.
Toulon had too much power and further tries from Jiuta Wainiqolo, Waisea Vuidravuwalu and Ihaia West took them further out of sight, despite Cancelliere’s 69th-minute consolation and the alert Steyn’s second try of the match. Leinster may have home advantage against La Rochelle in Saturday’s Champions Cup final but, unless you front up physically in all areas, knocking over the leading French sides is proving increasingly hard work.
