Toulon ran nine unanswered tries past Sale Sharks at Stade Félix Mayol on Sunday to win 62-0 and move five points clear at the top of Pool 6.
Sale's sorry season continues, as they suffered their heaviest ever Heineken Cup defeat while the French hosts gained their biggest ever win in Europe.
Toulon were able to field a fresh front-row among the ten changes made from last week's winning side in Salford, even allowing Jonny Wilkinson to drop to the bench.
Sale meanwhile, made five changes, with Mark Cueto moving to outside centre.
The home side showed their intentions from the off, and it was only the intervention of the TMO which denied two tries that were held up in the early stages. The Sale defence held firm for the first half hour, with only a Freddy Michalak penalty to show for Toulon's efforts up to that point.
But two tries followed before half-time, as Jean-Charles Orioli drove over for the first try, before Michalak added to his earlier penalty with his own try on 36 minutes. With two conversions, Toulon took a commanding 17-0 lead into half-time.
With an early try from Joe van Niekerk after the break, Sale were left with only pride to play for, but their task was made all the harder with the sin-binning of Fraser McKenzie on 50 minutes.
Straight away, Davit Kubriashvili crashed over for the bonus point score, but the playing numbers were levelled soon after, as Simon Shaw walked for a ten minute break.
Both Stefon and Delon Armitage scored during Shaw's absence, while van Niekerk's converted second try after 66 minutes took Toulon through the fifty point barrier.
The last ten minutes saw Rudi Wulf and David Smith add to Sale's woes, with Jonny Wilkinson coming off the bench, scoring one conversion.
The scorers:
For Toulon:
Tries: Orioli, Michalak, van Niekerk 2, Kubriashvili, S Armitage, D Armitage, Wulf, Smith
Cons: Michalak 6, Wilkinson
Pen: Michalak
Yellow card: Shaw
For Sale:
Yellow card: McKenzie
Toulon: 15 Delon Armitage, 14 Rudi Wulf, 13 Maxime Mermoz, 12 Matt Giteau, 11 David Smith, 10 Frederic Michalak, 9 Sébastien Tillous-Borde, 8 Joe Van Niekerk, 7 Steffon Armitage, 6 Pierrick Gunther, 5 Nick Kennedy, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 Davit Kubriashvili, 2 Jean-Charles Orioli, 1 Gethin Jenkins.
Replacements: 16 Sebastien Bruno, 17 Andrew Sheridan, 18 Carl Hayman, 19 Jocelino Suta, 20 Mathieu Bastareaud, 21 Juan Fernandez Lobbe, 22 Jonny Wilkinson, 23 Simon Shaw.
Sale: 15 Cameron Shepherd, 14 Mark Jennings, 13 Mark Cueto, 12 Johnny Leota, 11 Rob Miller, 10 Danny Cipriani, 9 Will Cliff, 8 Richie Vernon, 7 David Seymour, 6 James Gaskell, 5 Fraser McKenzie, 4 Richie Gray, 3 Eifion Lewis-Roberts, 2 Aston Croall, 1 Ross Harrison.
Replacements: 16 Tom Cruise, 17 Vadim Cobilas, 18 Tony Buckley, 19 Kearnan Myall, 20 Andy Powell, 21 Cillian Willis, 22 Sam Tuitupou, 23 Charlie Amesbury.
Venue: Stade Félix Mayol
Referee: John Lacey (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Paul Haycock (Ireland), Brian MacNiece (Ireland)
Television match official: Simon McDowell (Ireland)
Comments
GCP_jones says...
Only 62 to Nil, Toulon need more firepower, they should sign Habana.
They scored some great tries, but I just can't take them seriously, the Chelsea/Mamchester City of rugby.
S Armitage linking up with Chris Robshaw and Ben Morgan, now that would be a great back-row combination for England.
Posted 09:45 17th December 2012
5Lock4ward says...
Toulon is basically the new Sale; a haven for past-their-prime top level international players seeking to win club level rugby.
Posted 01:29 17th December 2012
RobinMasters says...
What sort of joke are you talking about, Bones7? It's not about passports, it's the HCup, not the 6N. By the way, Sale were once champions of England, with Saint-André as coach, Chabal and a couple of other Frenchmen. Times seem to be harder now that the French have gone...
Posted 21:47 16th December 2012
Iyhel says...
@ Bones7: 5, not 3 ; that said, the only players showing any will to fight on Sale's side were Scotsmen.
What shall we conclude?
It was almost to easy for Toulon, plenty of occasions butchered simply because of hesitations due to too many options...
QF at home is likely, serious things will only start in semis for them. Can be good as they won't be too much tired, maybe they'll lack tempo.
Posted 21:25 16th December 2012
Roger999 says...
5 french players in the starting line-up : mermoz michalack tillous-borde gunther orioli + 3 on the benichou
Posted 20:12 16th December 2012
KiwiRooster says...
Sale is at the bottom of the Premiership, I don't see Toulon thrashing them as a big surprise. Overall this group is pretty weak, Toulon and Montpellier should go through, but the finals will be a lot tougher for them.
Posted 20:02 16th December 2012
KiwiRooster says...
@Bones7 there were 5 French players in the starting XV, get the facts right.
Posted 19:58 16th December 2012
Bones7 says...
That's all well and good, but there are only 3 French players in their starting lineup. What a joke.
Posted 18:48 16th December 2012
ArmchairGeneral says...
Sale should have brought on Tom Cruise. I knew he had a house in the Lake District but didn't realise he was over for Sale. Crossed wires: he told his agent its time to expand his repetior and try a role as a hooker. Oh he must be so fed up of the bad jokes. If he does well it will only get worse!
Posted 18:26 16th December 2012
TVaddict says...
Ouch!
Posted 17:03 16th December 2012
melkdave says...
That was the performance of the cup so far.Toulon where just dominant in all aspects of the match,S.Armitage was again just superb.Notyhing more needs saying really but what price a Toulon-Clearmont final ,so far the best teams in the cup.imo
Posted 16:58 16th December 2012