Toulouse sealed a key 45-28 bonus-point win over Brive in the Top 14 on Sunday before Toulon beat La Rochelle 27-20 on the road.
Toulouse 45-28 Brive
Stade Ernest Wallon
Toulouse held on to beat Brive 45-28 in a high-scoring Top 14 contest at Stade Ernest Wallon, which puts the former up to third spot.
In a thrilling opening 40 minutes, Toulouse went into the break 24-20 in front as they crossed the whitewash three times to Brive's two.
Cheslin Kolbe went over on two minutes before Yoann Huget collected a grubber through from Thomas Ramos to make it a 14-3 lead.
Brive though struck back through Julien Ledevedec, who ran a good line to his try, but then it was Toulouse with the response as Ramos this time set up Zack Holmes for a score that made it 21-10 with the conversion. Ramos and Holmes were in superb form as Toulouse's 10 and 12.
Again though it took no time for Brive to respond as scrum-half Samuel Marques kicked the ball round the last man before going over.
Coming out for the second half it was Toulouse who first added to their tally through Huget's second score, which made it a 31-20 buffer.
Following a Thomas Laranjeira penalty for Brive it was Toulouse who scored again, this time Ramos' cross-kick finding Maxime Medard.
But Brive weren't about to throw in the towel just yet and on 54 minutes Sevenaia Galala touched down on the left wing to make it 38-28.
Both sides had chances in the closing stages but Toulouse defended well in the final 10 minutes to avoid any late drama. In fact they then went up the other end in the final attack, which resulted in a penalty try as Brive knocked the ball out in-goal, handing Toulouse the maximum.
The scorers:
For Toulouse:
Tries: Kolbe, Huget 2, Holmes, Medard, Penalty try
Cons: Ramos 5
Pen: Ramos
For Brive:
Tries: Ledevedec, Marques, Galala
Cons: Laranjeira 2
Pens: Laranjeira 3
Yellow Card: Hauman
Toulouse: 15 Maxime Medard, 14 Yoann Huget, 13 Yann David, 12 Zack Holmes, 11 Cheslin Kolbe, 10 Thomas Ramos, 9 Jean-Marc Doussain, 8 Carl Axtens, 7 Rynhard Elstadt, 6 Francois Cros, 5 Joe Tekori, 4 Florian Verhaeghe, 3 Charlie Faumuina, 2 Julien Marchand, 1 Cyril Baille
Replacements: 16 David Roumieu, 17 Rodrigue Neti, 18 Piula Faasalele, 19 Selevasio Tolofua, 20 Louis-Benoit Madaule, 21 Anthony Meric, 22 Jarrod Poi, 23 Dorian Aldegheri
Brive: 15 Thomas Laranjeira, 14 Benito Masilevu, 13 Arnaud Mignardi, 12 Sevenaia Galala, 11 Nadir Megdoud, 10 Matthieu Ugalde, 9 Samuel Marques, 8 Petrus Hauman, 7 Dominiko Waqaniburotu, 6 Fabien Sanconnie, 5 Peet Marais, 4 Julien Ledevedec, 3 Sila Puafisi, 2 Mike Tadjer, 1 Karlen Asieshvili
Replacements: 16 Louis Martin, 17 Vivien Devisme, 18 Damien Lagrange, 19 Said Hireche, 20 Vasil Lobzhanidze, 21 Felix Le Bourhis, 22 Gaetan Germain, 23 Damien Jourdain
Referee: Alexandre Ruiz
Assistant referees: Luc Ramos, Akim Hadj Bachir
Television match official: Philippe Bonhoure
La Rochelle 20-27 Toulon
Stade Marcel Deflandre
Toulon jumped up to fourth position in the standings after claiming an impressive 27-20 victory over La Rochelle at Stade Marcel Deflandre.
Despite trailing 17-14 at the interval, Toulon claimed the victory thanks to a Ma'a Nonu try and the boot of replacement Anthony Belleau.
La Rochelle scored first-half tries through Tawera Kerr-Barlow, Pierre Bourgarit, Pierre Aguillon, but ultimately went down to a sixth league defeat of the Top 14 season that leaves them in a precarious position in sixth place.
Toulon, who also scored through JP Pietersen, will be pleased with this win that takes them a point behind Toulouse and two off Racing 92.
The scorers:
For La Rochelle:
Tries: Kerr-Barlow, Bourgarit, Aguillon
Con: Lamb
Pen: Lamb
For Toulon:
Tries: Pietersen, Nonu
Con: Belleau
Pens: Wisniewski 3, Belleau 2
La Rochelle: 15 Kini Murimurivalu, 14 Vincent Rattez, 13 Paul Jordaan, 12 Pierre Aguillon, 11 Jeremy Sinzelle, 10 Ryan Lamb, 9 Tawera Kerr-Barlow, 8 Victor Vito, 7 Zeno Kieft, 6 Levani Botia, 5 Mathieu Tanguy, 4 Jason Eaton, 3 Uini Atonio, 2 Pierre Bourgarit, 1 Lekso Kaulashvili
Replacements: 16 Hikairo Forbes, 17 Leo Aouf, 18 Romain Sazy, 19 Kevin Gourdon, 20 Alexi Bales, 21 Brock James, 22 Elliot Roudil, 23 Mohamed Boughanmi
Toulon: 15 Chris Ashton, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Semi Radradra, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 11 Vincent Clerc, 10 Jonathan Wisniewski, 9 Eric Escande, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Facundo Isa, 6 Raphael Lakafia, 5 Juandre Kruger, 4 Dave Attwood, 3 Marcel Van der Merwe, 2 Anthony Etrillard, 1 Florian Fresia
Replacements: 16 Bastien Soury, 17 Xavier Chiocci, 18 Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe, 19 Jean Monribot, 20 Anthony Belleau, 21 Eneriko Buliruarua, 22 Sebastien Tillous-Borde, 23 Emerick Setiano
Referee: Cyril Lafon
Assistant referees: Pierre Brousset, Éric Soulan
Television match official: Patrick Dellac
The post Toulon win at La Rochelle, Toulouse get maximum appeared first on Planet Rugby.