Henry Slade keeps his composure as Exeter Chiefs stun Toulon at the Stade Mayol

Discarded England centre Henry Slade didn’t let the whistles of the Toulon crowd affect him as Exeter Chiefs claimed a stunning 19-18 triumph over Toulon in the Champions Cup.

Rob Baxter’s men were 18-12 in arrears when Jacques Vermeulen touched down to give Slade a conversion to win the game.

The Toulon crowd did all they could to put him off, while there was a delay when the kick was initially taken from the wrong place, but the centre kept his composure to snatch a dramatic victory for Exeter.

They managed to battle back from 18-5 behind at the break after a first half which was controlled by the French outfit, who touched down twice through Beka Gigashvili and Ben White.

Enzo Herve also kicked eight points from the tee, and they looked set to open their Champions Cup account with a victory.

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However, the injury to Baptiste Serin proved crucial as they were forced to play out the remainder of the match with no scrum-half on the field.

As a result, Exeter began to get the upper hand, and after Max Norey had reduced the arrears, Vermeulen’s and Slade’s heroics late on took them to a huge win.

The Chiefs trailed by 13 points at half-time, but they kept French Top 14 title contenders Toulon scoreless after the break.

Flanker Vermeulen touched down from close range for Exeter’s third try with a minute left at Stade Felix-Mayol, then England international centre Slade stepped up to convert amid intense pressure.

And it meant that Baxter’s team made a flying start at the start of four pool stage weekends in the quest for a round-of-16 place.

Fly-half Harvey Skinner scored an early interception try for the Chiefs, but Toulon then took charge as prop Gigashvili and former London Irish scrum-half White touched down, while Herve kicked a conversion and two penalties.

Henry Slade wins it at the very death for @ExeterChiefs 🤯 pic.twitter.com/NgjMaXTYhX

— Rugby on TNT Sports (@rugbyontnt) December 9, 2023

It left Exeter 18-5 adrift at the interval, but the second-half performance will be remembered as one of Chiefs’ finest in their European history.

Toulon put the pressure on early in the second period, but they turned down kicks at goal in an attempt to go for the bonus-point, and it proved to be an error.

The Chiefs defended superbly in the third quarter and then turned the tables on the hosts when Serin went off with a nasty-looking injury.

Hooker Norey got them back into the contest, and they put the pressure on going into the latter stages before Toulon eventually folded when Vermeulen crossed the whitewash.

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