Two from two for Toulon

Two tries: Matt Giteau

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Matt Giteau scored two tries and Jonny Wilkinson kicked a late winning penalty as Toulon edged Racing Metro 23-21 in Paris on Saturday.

Wilkinson found the target from the kicking tee for the fifth time in the 76th minute to hand RCT their second win on the road in as many weeks after the Toulon's star-studded scrum earned a crucial penalty.

The result at Stade Yves Du Manoir, combined with last week's win in Perpignan, provisionally moves Toulon to the summit of the Top 14 standings.

This week's effort was a marked step up in quality from Bernard Laporte's troops however, suggesting they truly are title contenders.

Victory came at a cost though as Chris Masoe left the field with a torn ear in the first half before Alexis Palisson was knocked out cold and departed on a stretcher in the closing minutes.

Wilkinson and Jonathan Wisniewski traded penalties early on before Racing wing Virimi Vakatawa collected his own kick ahead to score the first try.

Giteau replied with Toulon's first try of the season to leave the scores level at half time.

Flank Antoine Battut finished off a wonderful team effort put Racing back in front in the second period but Giteau crossed again on the hour mark to set up a grandstand finish.

Toulon's massive investment in their front row paid dividends in the end as they plied the pressure at scrum time, leaving Wilkinson to slot the winning three-pointer.

The scorers:

For Racing-Métro:
Tries: Vakatawa, Battut
Con: Wisniewski
Pens: Wisniewski 2, Germain

For Toulon:
Tries: Giteau 2
Cons: Wilkinson 2
Pens: Wilkinson 3

Yellow cards: D. Armitage (Toulon - 38th min - intentional offside) ; Ben Arous (Racing - 75th min - repeated scrum infringements)

Racing Metro: 15 Gaetan Germain, 14 Virimi Vakatawa, 13 Henry Chavancy, 12 Fabrice Estebanez, 11 Julien Saubade, 10 Jonathan Wisniewski, 9 Maxime Machenaud, 8 Jacques Cronje, 7 Masinivanua Matadigo, 6 Antoine Battut, 5 Francois Van der Merwe, 4 Karim Ghezal, 3 Luc Ducalcon, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski, 1 Julien Brugnaut.
Replacements: 16 Benjamin Noirot, 17 Eddy Ben Arous, 18 Fabrice Metz, 19 Bernard Le roux, 20 Mathieu Belie , 21 Benjamin Dambielle , 22 Guillaume Bousses , 23 Salemane Sa.

Toulon:15 Delon Armitage, 14 Vincent Martin, 13 Mathieu Bastareaud, 12 Matthew Giteau, 11 Alexis Palisson, 10 Jonathan Wilkinson, 9 Nicolas Durand, 8 Matemini Masoe, 7 Steffon Armitage, 6 Johann van Niekerk, 5 Simon Shaw, 4 John philip Botha, 3 Davit Kubriashvili, 2 Sebastien Bruno, 1 Andrew Sheridan.
Replacements: 16 Jean charles Orioli, 17 Gethin Jenkins, 18 Jocelino Suta, 19 Pierrick Gunther, 20 Benjamin Lapeyre, 21 Maxime Mermoz, 22 Sebastien Tillous borde, 23 Carl Hayman.