Toulon win against Racing 92 at the Stade Mayol!

Rugby Club Toulonnais won their home game against Racing 92 32-29, on Sunday, September 15th.
After losing the first home game of the season – against Lyon – the week before, Toulon wanted to bounce back in front of their supporters. They were committed from the start and, at the 10th minute, Daniel Ikpefan passed the ball to Facundo Isa, who outflanked the Racing 92 backline before giving the ball on the inside to Julien Heriteau, who scored his third try of the season, but his first one at the Stade Mayol! Toulon were 7-0 up after the try was converted.
Despite Toulon’s strong start to the game, Juan Imhoff intercepted a pass from Dachary and it was a tit-for-tat answer from Racing 92 (7-7). After thirty minutes, though, it was Daniel Ikpefan’s turn to intercept a pass from Hidalgo-Clyne to Imhoff – and score a try. 17-7 to Toulon.
Just before half-time, Anthony Belleau scored two penalties back to back, giving Toulon a 13-point lead (23-10).
In the second half, Ikpefan outflanked Zebo fifteen metres from the try line, but Henry Chavancy came back and pushed the Toulon player out of the pitch, as the latter was ready to score. The video referee confirmed this and, after the advantage had not benefited the home team, Anthony Belleau scored another penalty (26-10). Racing 92 then made a mistake on a scrum and Belleau gave Toulon a 19-point lead (29-10).
The Parisians reacted immediately and scored a clever try. A penalty was quickly played by Iribaren, who perfectly kicked the ball across the pitch for Louis Dupichot, who scored Racing 92’s second try of the game (29-15).
After sixty minutes, the visiting team committed another foul and Anthony Belleau converted an easy penalty (32-15).
Things became quite complicated for the home team during the last twenty minutes, as they had to counter the onslaughts of Racing 92. Yoan Tanga scored two tries for the Parisian team and Toulon only had a narrow 3-point advantage, but held out until the end. They will now play an away game against Brive, next week, and the next home game will be against La Rochelle, on Sunday, October 6th.