Player Ratings - Munster vs Toulon
- 5645
Munster
- Simon Zebo – 6
Covered brilliantly to prevent Ashton from scoring in the first play of the game. Was visibly disappointed to leave the field through injury in the first half.
- Andrew Conway – 8
Great hit on Tuisova in the first half prevented a certain try. Piled on a lot of pressure with his chasing of Munster’s kicks in behind. Missed a tackle on Radrada which almost allowed to Fijian to get over. He made up for it with his piece of magic at the death, which snatched the victory for the home side.
- Sam Arnold – 8
Played above himself to match the attacking prowess of Bastareaud with solid defence. Was ineffective in attack up against a much bigger centre partnership but his main goal on the day had to be to stop the axis of the Toulon captain and former All-Black.
- Rory Scannell - 8
Poor clearance kicks early on in the game but improved as the game wore on. Good carrying throughout the match put his side on the front foot. Great defence as well, limited Nonu’s opportunities to take the ball to the line.
- Alex Wootton – 6
Poor kicking gave Toulon back the ball at times. Missed 4 tackles and had a couple of handling errors which gave Toulon opportunities to catch Munster on the hop. May have been a little out of his depth but still performed adequately as his side came away with the win.
- Ian Keatley – 8
Distributed well throughout the game as he stood up on a day when a lot was asked of him in the pivotal role. A good grubber in behind put Toulon under pressure and got Munster their first try. His tactical kicking was executed perfectly and he also had a 100% success rate from the tee.
- Conor Murray – 8
Showed great rugby-nous to score the first try of the game when Guirado knocked on at the back of the ruck. He pounced on it to get the momentum of the game back in Munster’s favour. Toulon dealt with his box kicks well in general today but Munster still managed to win a couple back, which put them on the front-foot.
- CJ Stander - 7
Good carrying early on put Toulon under pressure. Unlucky not to score in the left corner after 13 minutes as he was driven into touch. Continued to make great ground throughout the game, taking his tally to 30m.
- Jack O’Donoghue – 8
Good chop tackles on Toulon’s ball carriers in the first half. Great carrying as well as he served as another ball carrier in the openside role. Made 34m from 5 carries. Questions around his selection were most certainly laid to rest with his performance today.
- Peter O’Mahony – 8
The Munster talisman is most definitely the most prolific back-row in the lineout in world rugby at the moment. He won 8 for his side and stole 2 of Toulon’s to put pressure on their set-piece. He also carried well up against a bigger back row and caused the visitors some problems at the breakdown as well.
- Billy Holland – 7
Great defence all day, especially at the lineout, where he nullified the threat of Toulon’s maul. 18 tackles today isn’t a bad turnover for the senior statesman in the Munster XV.
- Jean Kleyn – 7
The South African put in a massive shift as well, having a perfect success rate in contact. He made 18 and missed none.
- Stephen Archer – 7
Put in some massive hits while on the field and tried to disrupt Toulon’s ball at the ruck, making it difficult for Escande to box kick.
- Rhys Marshall – 7
The kiwi was immense in defence today and was effective with his carries. None more-so than when he was isolated on the wing in the first half but fought to stay on his feet until help arrived.
- Dave Kilcoyne – 7
Great tackling around the ruck to prevent Toulon’s large forwards from gaining much ground.
Replacements
- Darren Sweetnam – 7
Made some great tackles on Tuisova, which prevented the Fijian winger from making a single linebreak all day.
Toulon
- Chris Ashton - 7
Ran a superb line off of Bastareaud to get his Toulon’s only try of the game. He also covered well on a couple of occasions to clean up kicks in behind and prevent Conway from scoring. However, barking at Nigel Owens throughout the game may have not helped his side in terms of how decisions went throughout the game.
- Josua Tuisova – 5
Ineffective in attack as Munster’s defenders chopped him low and dragged him into touch. He did beat 5 defenders but failed to break through the line at all. Murray looked to expose him in the air with box kicks but the Fijian dealt with most of them expertly.
- Mathieu Bastareaud – 6
A quite game from the Toulon skipper as he failed to make much of an impact up against the young Sam Arnold. He did create Toulon’s only try with a clean-break but only managed to offload successfully on one occasion and failed to win any turnovers. He will not be happy with his performance.
- Ma'a Nonu – 6
A quite game for the former All-Black as well, as he was also outperformed by his opposite number. He made some big hits and some hard carries but was marshalled well by Scannell, leading to his replacement after 58 minutes.
- Semi Radradra – 5
Munster would have spoken about how they were going to contain the cross-code convert this week, and they implemented their plan to perfection. They isolated him in defence, leading to him missing a massive 3 out of 4 tackles, and turning over the ball 4 times. He beat a couple of defenders and made 102m but most of them were as he ran back Keatley and Murray’s kicks. He also butchered a try when an inside offload to Bastareaud would have resulted in the skipper getting over.
- Anthony Belleau - 6
The young out-half was a late call-up to the starting XV and it looked to be a great decision, as he performed well in the opening quarter. He popped over a penalty and a drop-goal to give Toulon the lead. However, he looked to panic a little as Munster got back in the game, with poor clearance kicks giving Munster opportunities to attack. It was a good decision to get him off the field in the 2nd half.
- Eric Escande – 7
Good box kicking from the nine made up for the lack of control his stand-off was contributing to proceedings. Good distribution throughout the game as well but the introduction of Mathewson definitely sped up Toulon’s play.
- Duane Vermeulen – 6
Was completely outclassed by the abrasive CJ Stander both in terms of ball-carrying and defensive duties. Failed to get on the ball as often as would have been expected of him.
- Facundo Isa – 8
Most definitely Toulon’s star player, as carried a massive 21 times for 36m. He also made some big hits in defence as he tried to stunt the momentum of the Munster back-row.
- Raphael Lakafia – 7
A great defensive shift from the blindside as he made all of his tackles successfully. He also tried to make up for the absence of Vermeulen around the field by carrying himself.
- Dave Attwood - 7
Great carrying put his side in contention of claiming a famous away victory. Was Toulon’s top gainer in the forwards with 37m and 3 defenders beaten from 7 carries.
- Juandre Kruger – 7
The second row made a mammoth 34m from his 4 carries and made all of his tackles in defence. A couple of steals for Munster at the lineout will leave him frustrated.
- Marcel van der Merwe – 6
The South African tighthead was fantastic in the loose but can’t be awarded any higher a grade due to Munster’s exposure of the Toulon scrum.
- Guilhem Guirado – 6
The French captain failed to make a significant impact on the game, only winning 1 turnover, missing a couple of tackles and making minimal gains with ball-in-hand.
- Florian Fresia – 5
The Munster scrum got the shove on and won a number of penalties for the home side. That’s never good news for a prop.
Replacements
- Francois Trinh-Duc – 6
The French international gave us a typical performance today as we saw the good, the bad and the ugly. He put Bastareaud away with a sumptuous offload which led to Ashton’s try. He missed touch on a couple of occasions, one from a penalty, which the got back from a poor Wootton clearance, and one from a clearance, which Conway ran back to get the games winning try.
