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Toulon and superb Jonny Wilkinson crush Saracens in Heineken Cup final Toulon and superb Jonny Wilkinson crush Saracens in Heineken Cup final
(about 4 hours later)
Jonny Wilkinson’s final appearance on a rugby ground in Britain ended with the outside-half becoming the last captain to hoist the Heineken Cup after another polished performance that should give his latest successor at No10 in the England team, Owen Farrell, considerable pause for thought. Jonny Wilkinson’s final appearance on a rugby ground in Britain ended with the fly-half becoming the final captain to hoist the Heineken Cup after another polished performance that should give his successor in the England team, Owen Farrell, considerable cause for reflection.
The game was an hour old when Wilkinson, who had dropped a trademark goal with his right foot at the end of the first half to give his side a 10-3 interval lead despite being largely outplayed until then, was going through his routine as he prepared to convert Toulon’s second try. Farrell, standing behind the Saracens’ line, pointed to where his watch would normally be on his wrist and mouthed some advice. The game was an hour old when Wilkinson, who had dropped a trademark goal with his right foot at the end of the first-half to give his side a 10-3 interval lead despite being largely outplayed until then, was going through his routine as he prepared to convert Toulon’s second try. Farrell, standing behind the Saracens’ line, pointed to where his watch would normally be on his wrist and mouthed some advice but it was Wilkinson who had time on his side.
A few minutes later, after a high and late tackle on Bryan Habana had led to Wilkinson’s second penalty and 13th point of the evening, a flustered Farrell was taken off. If the performances of the outside-halves did not decide the result of the match, Wilkinson showed that being compared with him is one thing, being comparable to him is another. A few minutes later, after a high and late tackle on Bryan Habana had led to Wilkinson’s second penalty and 13th point of the match, Farrell was taken off. If the performances of the two fly-halves did not decide the result, Wilkinson showed that being compared with him is one thing, being comparable to him is another. He said that he was embarrassed at receiving praise that should go to his team-mates, but as the conductor, he sets the tone and after a few false notes at the start, Toulon were in chorus.
Saracens started in typical wolf-pack mode while Toulon looked as if they had been at the Wolf Blass. After Owen Farrell gave the Premiership finalists a fourth-minute lead when Xavier Chiocci, not for the first time, buckled under the pressure exerted by Matt Stevens at a scrum, the defending champions enjoyed a period of pressure, picking and going nowhere. Saracens had eviscerated Clermont Auvergne in the semi-final at Twickenham, their wolf-pack defence stripping their prey to a skeleton, but here the hunters became the hunted after an opening 25 minutes of snarling. Jacques Burger made a number of thumping hits, one visibly hurting Bakkies Botha, and Billy Vunipola made some typically robust challenges. Richard Wigglesworth’s hanging kicks discomfited Toulon’s back three, but for once the constituent parts of the Premiership finalists did not add up to anywhere near enough.
Sarries are never happier than when focused on moving targets and the ground resounded with the thunder of a thousand hits. Jacques Burger was, typically, at the centre of the storm. His momentous contribution was a breath-sucking tackle on the not insubstantial Bakkies Botha that visibly shook the victim. Toulon may have creaked in the scrum until Xavier Chiocci was replaced six minutes into the second-half having conceded a third penalty for collapsing under the strain of grappling with Matt Stevens. Alain Rolland is a referee who has a penchant for giving transgressors in the front row 10 minutes off to think about their technique and it was at that point that the breakdown became the key battleground.
Toulon knew what to expect but were still discombobulated. Their first attack ended when Steffon Armitage was penalised near the Saracens line for holding on: 1-0 to the wolves and they had the scent of success. Toulon were struggling up front and they were too hyped: the hooker Craig Burden made a series of borderline challenges, on one occasion leaving his opposite number Schalk Brits prostrate, and Delon Armitage was fortunate his late challenge on Alex Goode was neither seen by the match officials nor investigated by the fourth official. As Burger’s influence waned, so Steffon Armitage’s grew. Saracens had used Chiocci’s final indiscretion to peg back Toulon to 10-6, but a few minutes later Armitage, again playing at No8, tackled Billy Vunipola and, in virtually the same movement, got back to his feet and started stealing the ball. Kelly Brown, off his feet, tried to thwart him and Wilkinson was presented with a penalty from 40 metres, his first of the match.
It was brutal stuff and generally ugly. Saracens looked to get the ball into the hands of Billy Vunipola and move the ball after a tackle with alacrity but Toulon’s capacity for absorbing pressure has been a significant factor behind their recent success. Sarries needed to translate pressure into points but after Marcelo Bosch was surprisingly short with a long-range penalty – there were no elements to disturb the flight of the ball with the roof closed – Farrell missed from the same distance and their composure deserted them. Farrell had opened the scoring in the fourth minute after Chiocci failed to hold up his side of the scrum, but he and Marcelo Bosch were both wide from 45 metres in the next 20 minutes as Saracens, for all their position and territory, struggled to make an impact on an obdurate defence in which Juan Smith, who retired a year ago because of a chronic achilles’ tendon problem before making a comeback, was the central figure. Toulon may be a team of all the talents and expensively assembled, but they are moulded like Wilkinson, putting the team before themselves – even Mathieu Bastareaud, a centre with a reputation for being sulky and temperamental before he pitched up on the Mediterranean.
Richard Wigglesworth’s hanging kicks disconcerted Toulon after the scrum-half recovered from a shaky opening when he found touch on the full before being charged down by Burden near his own line, fortunate the ball bounced towards touch-in-goal rather than away from it as Sébastien Tillous-Borde went to touch it down. Sarries chased hard, as they had at the start of the match when Chris Ashton’s looming presence prompted Juan Fernández Lobbe to drop the kick-off in his own 22 – but while they forced errors they also made them and they failed to exploit a one-man advantage for 10 minutes in the third quarter. He should have played a greater part in Toulon’s first try on 29 minutes, dawdling after Matt Giteau’s chip into Saracens’ 22 as his centre partner scented the opportunity, but he created the second after Farrell’s break in enemy territory spawned a counterattack. Bastareaud found himself barrelling along the right-wing, desperately seeking contact Saracens thought and hoped, but at the moment of expected impact, the centre passed to Smith outside him.
Farrell’s penalty miss came after Lobbe had received a yellow card for taking out Alistair Hargreaves in the air. By the time the flanker returned, his side were in the lead. Toulon had so been on the back foot that it was 24 minutes before Bryan Habana touched the ball, and then it was to stop it going into touch in his own 22. It was just after that when Toulon were awarded their first penalty and the second followed quickly afterwards. Wilkinson changed direction after lineout ball was moved quickly and Matt Giteau, whose role until then had been that of a tacklebag, chipped the ball into the Saracens’ 22 for the right-wing Drew Mitchell to chase. It was not a graceful act from someone who has not forged his reputation on passing and Smith had to check his run slightly to gather the ball, but it opened the defence and, after an interchange of passes with his fellow flanker Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe, Smith scored in the corner for Wilkinson’s boot to put Toulon 14 points ahead and, effectively, out of reach.
Alex Goode was exposed at full-back as Mitchell caught the bouncing ball and although he made a try-saving tackle, Giteau had sensed an opportunity, sprinting to support his compatriot while Mathieu Bastareaud dawdled, and Wigglesworth was too far behind to prevent an opportunist try against the run of play that was a neat summary of the game: Saracens were unable to finish what they started and moments of promise turned into reward for their opponents. Lobbe had been a central figure in the first half. He was sent to the sin-bin after 21 minutes for taking out the second row Alistair Hargreaves in the air – an offence that earned Saracens a permanent one-man advantage in the quarter-final at Ulster when Jared Payne was sent off – but yellow seemed the appropriate colour with Stevens also having a hold of his colleague.
Toulon’s second, decisive try, 19 minutes into the second-half, came from another Saracens mistake. Farrell had not been reluctant to attack the line and another half-break inside opposition territory created some space for Ashton, who had come into midfield. The wing was unable to hold on to the pass and the Top 14 finalists counterattacked, moving the ball right where Bastareaud deceived the defence into thinking he was going to take contact, instead making a disguised pass to Juan Smith outside him. Saracens were at this stage three points ahead and on top, although Toulon came closest to scoring a try when Wigglesworth’s kick was charged down by Craig Burden only for the ball to roll into touch-in-goal as Sébastien Tillous-Borde went to apply downward pressure. It was a rare moment of pressure from Toulon who were victims of their own indiscipline: Burden’s challenges bordered on the reckless and Delon Armitage was fortunate that his late challenge on Alex Goode went unnoticed.
Smith passed to Lobbe inside him on the Saracens 22 and when Goode committed himself to the tackle, the two wing forwards combined again for Smith to score in the corner and all but settle the match. Saracens had scored first in the second-half when Farrell kicked his second penalty after Chiocci had again been penalised for taking down a scrum: the prop was immediately hauled off given the referee Alain Rolland’s penchant for giving collapsers 10 minutes in the sin-bin to reflect on their technique, but it was in the loose where the match was turning. It was at the point they looked most vulnerable that Toulon roused themselves. It took them 25 minutes to earn a penalty and when they had a second a few minutes later, Wilkinson used the lineout in Saracens’ half to change direction and use Giteau as the point of attack. The centre kicked the ball into the ground so that Goode, as the last line of defence at full-back, hesitated about whether to try to claim it. As he pondered, Drew Mitchell made the ball his, catching it high above his head, and although he was tackled by Goode, he passed to Giteau who had read the play and was far enough ahead of Wigglesworth to make the line.
Toulon began to dominate the breakdown and when Steffon Armitage tackled Billy Vunipola and got back on his feet immediately to contest possession only to be scragged by Kelly Brown, the unruffled Wilkinson kicked the resulting penalty from 40 metres. The game had moved away from Saracens, the wolves scattered and Wilkinson, who left the field two minutes from the end trying to avoid a standing ovation, will on Saturday look to end his career with a double. It was a blow from which Saracens never recovered. Wilkinson made it 10-3 just before the interval with a right-footed drop goal from 35 metres. Toulon are not a team to chase and while it was largely a brutal, ugly final between two heavyweights, it contained moments of class and was notable for the controlling brilliance of Wilkinson and his facility for making the right decision, dovetailing with Giteau. Even at the very end, he inspires.
Farrell’s final act before being replaced was to fell Habana with a high, late challenge after the wing had chipped the ball ahead, although the fall to the ground was unnecessarily theatrical.