Toulon hit Brive for six

Editor

Toulon picked up an impressive 44-15 bonus-point victory over Brive in the Top 14 on Saturday, running in six tries at Stade Félix Mayol.

Bernard Laporte's charges crossed three times in the opening half as a penalty try got the ball rolling thanks to a strong driving maul.

Their next score came through wing Josua Tuisova on 15 minutes, before full-back Delon Armitage scored on half-time to make it 22-10 to Toulon, with Brive having themselves secured a try through wing Benito Masilevu on 18 minutes. It was still anyone's game at the turnaround.

But Toulon would pull away after the interval as further tries from lock Romain Taofifenua and form fly-half Tom Taylor made it 39-10.

Despite the visitors crossing via replacement hooker Francois Da Ros, Toulon wing Drew Mitchell had the final say in a healthy result.

As a result the defending European champions move top of the table ahead of the rest of the fixtures in Round 16.

The scorers:

For Toulon:
Tries: Penalty Try, Tuisova, D Armitage, Taofifenua, Taylor, Mitchell
Cons: Pélissié 4
Pens: Pélissié 2

For Brive:
Tries: Masilevu, Da Ros
Con: Germain
Pen: Germain

Toulon: 15 Delon Armitage, 14 Drew Mitchell, 13 Mathieu Bastareaud, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 11 Josua Tuisova, 10 Tom Taylor, 9 Jonathan Pélissié, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Steffon Armitage, 6 Juan Smith, 5 Romain Taofifenua, 4 Jocelino Suta (c), 3 Manasa Saulo, 2 Jean-Charles Orioli, 1 Florian Fresia
Replacements: 16 Iuri Natriashvili, 17 Alexandre Menini, 18 Thibault Lassalle, 19 Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe, 20 Eric Escande, 21 Quade Cooper, 22 Theo Belan, 23 Levan Chilachava

Brive: 15 Gaetan Germain, 14 Benito Masilevu, 13 Arnaud Mignardi, 12 Benjamin Petre, 11 Alfi Mafi, 10 Mathieu Uglade, 9 Teddy Iribaren, 8 Sisi Koyamaibole, 7 Petrus Hauman (c), 6 Poutasi Luafutu, 5 Dominiko Waqaniburotu, 4 Johan Snyman, 3 Giorgi Jgenti, 2 Guillaume Ribes, 1 Kevin Buys
Replacements: 16 Francois Da Ros, 17 Goderze Shvelidze, 18 Victor Lebas, 19 Fabien Sanconnie, 20 Said Hireche, 21 Nicolas Bezy, 22 Sevenaia Galala, 23 Yusuf Tuncer

Referee: Cedric Marchat