Rhys Webb stars as Toulon enjoy six-try win

Toulon bounced back from a tough period as they blew Lyon away, sealing a 40-7 victory at Stade Mayol on Saturday to give them some festive cheer.

It has been a difficult run of results for Patrice Collazo’s outfit, with last weekend’s Champions Cup loss at Montpellier adding to their woes.

But on Saturday they were improved from the outset and raced into a 28-0 lead at the break, with Rhys Webb’s return acting as a catalyst.

Liam Messam got his charges on the board in the second minute in fortuitous style when he followed up a penalty that struck the cross-bar to score. Filipo Nakosi (2) and Josua Tuisova also chipped in with a mixture of powerful and simple finishes that boosted morale at the ground.

After the break another try assist from the impressive Webb set up Nakosi for his hat-trick before Pierre Louis-Barassi and Daniel Ikpefan scored for Lyon and Toulon respectively late on. It was Lyon’s heaviest loss of the Top 14 season thus far on a disappointing afternoon.

This was only Toulon’s third victory in their last seven Top 14 fixtures, with the five points much needed as it repels them from the drop zone.

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It’s clear that Webb’s return from injury could be crucial in their possible rise up the standings and if lethal wings Nakosi and Tuisova can feed off those line breaks from the Welsh scrum-half, more wins should come as their focus will now solely be on the domestic league.

Toulon’s final game of 2018 sees them go to Toulouse in what will be another test that should show if they are capable of a play-off push.

The early Top 14 fixture saw Stade Francais win 19-6 at Agen, with the late games seeing Racing 92 thump struggling Perpignan 64-28, La Rochelle win 28-23 at Pau and Grenoble edge Montpellier 17-16 in a result that takes them out of the bottom two places.