{"id":17301,"date":"2025-04-13T19:29:11","date_gmt":"2025-04-13T19:29:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/17301\/"},"modified":"2025-04-13T19:29:11","modified_gmt":"2025-04-13T19:29:11","slug":"toulon-player-ratings-v-toulouse-brutal-lions-contender-banging-on-door-planet-rugby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/17301\/","title":{"rendered":"Toulon player ratings v Toulouse: ‘Brutal’ Lions contender ‘banging on door’ : Planet Rugby"},"content":{"rendered":"

Following Toulon\u2019s 21-18 defeat to Toulouse in the quarter-finals of the Investec Champions Cup, here is how we scored\u00a0Pierre Mignoni\u2019s men.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Toulon player ratings v Toulouse<\/p>\n

15 Melvyn Jaminet:\u00a0<\/strong>A kicking masterclass off the tee, from whatever range, as he nabbed all 18 of his side\u2019s points. Also complemented that with some nice efforts around the park. 8<\/b><\/p>\n

14 Ga\u00ebl Drean:\u00a0<\/strong>Had a lovely score taken away from him (in fairness, play had stopped), but wasn\u2019t a day to showcase his talents as he was starved of genuine possession. Did very well with what he was given, though.\u00a05<\/strong><\/p>\n

13 Leicester Fainga\u2019anuku:\u00a0<\/strong>Strong showing from the All Black<\/a>, who posed a serious threat whenever he touched the ball. Made consistently big carries to get his side over the gainline, and always looked to break away.\u00a07<\/strong><\/p>\n

12 J\u00e9r\u00e9my Sinzelle:\u00a0<\/strong>An understated performance, but worked hard in defence and chipped in with 15 tackles.\u00a06<\/strong><\/p>\n

The \u2018ruffle some feathers\u2019 warning Northampton have issued to Leinster ahead of semi-final rematch<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

11 Gabin Villiere:\u00a0<\/strong>Gut-wrenching, absolutely gut-wrenching. He was so good throughout the game, especially considering the conditions, but it was his error right at the death that eventually came back to bite his side. 99% of the time he was brilliant though.\u00a06<\/strong><\/p>\n

10 Paolo Garbisi:\u00a0<\/strong>Things just seemed to happen around him today. His combination with Serin helped Toulon make the most of the limited running opportunities, but he was consistently looking to try new things to get them in behind. Crucially, too, he didn\u2019t force things into being; everything felt organic. Drifted a touch in the second-half, but overall was tidy.\u00a07<\/b><\/p>\n

9 Baptiste Serin: <\/strong>Came up with some spectacular moments\u00a0to inject some pace into their attack in unfavourable conditions, but his yellow card early into the second-half helped Toulouse gain precious momentum in the arm wrestle. 6<\/b><\/p>\n

\"Planet<\/p>\n

Back-row<\/p>\n

8 Facundo Isa:\u00a0<\/strong>Very good all-round display in the tight, as he never shied away from the hard graft. Led the way for his side in the carry and more than matched that with some strong defensive efforts. 7<\/b><\/p>\n

7 Esteban Abadie:\u00a0<\/strong>Brought heaps of physicality to proceedings, and made a very good impact across both sides of the ball and in the breakdown.\u00a06<\/b><\/p>\n

6 Lewis Ludlam:\u00a0<\/strong>A really classy defensive display against that behemoth Toulouse pack, as he led the way for his forwards pack in the tackle count with 13 to his name, and got heavily involved in the breakdown battle.\u00a07<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tight five<\/p>\n

5 Brian Alainu\u2019uese:\u00a0<\/strong>Proper workhorse display from the lock, who consistently put his body on the line in the tight.\u00a06<\/strong><\/p>\n

4 David Ribbans:\u00a0<\/strong>Brutal on both sides of the ball and did a very good job in the lineout too. One thing that might go against him for the British and Irish Lions<\/a> is that he\u2019s not played a Test for over a year, but this game was Test-match intensity and he simply excelled. Will be banging on Farrell\u2019s door now, despite the loss.\u00a08<\/strong><\/p>\n

Munster boss identifies \u2018key areas\u2019 which proved costly in Bordeax-Begles defeat<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

3 Beka Gigashvili:\u00a0<\/strong>Started pretty well in the scrum, but dropped off quickly and later found himself under the cosh. Fine around the park though.\u00a05<\/strong><\/p>\n

2 Teddy Baubigny:\u00a0<\/strong>A solid if uninspiring performance from the hooker. Lineout was hit and miss during his stint, but to his credit, Toulouse defended it very well.\u00a05<\/strong><\/p>\n

1 Dany Priso:\u00a0<\/strong>Fared better than his tighthead in the scrum, but couldn\u2019t quite help halt the Toulouse shunt when they clicked into gear.\u00a06<\/strong><\/p>\n

Replacements:\u00a0<\/strong>The bench were brought on at a pivotal time in the contest, with Toulouse beginning to gain momentum, but they dragged their side back into the arm wrestle. The deployment of Les Bombe Squad really helped turn the tide in the battle up front and particularly in the scrum, and they deserve some flowers for their efforts.\u00a07<\/strong><\/p>\n

READ MORE:\u00a0England star to be assessed after concerning knock in Northampton Saints\u2019 Champions Cup victory<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Following Toulon\u2019s 21-18 defeat to Toulouse in the quarter-finals of the Investec Champions Cup, here is how we…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17302,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4102],"tags":[2383,5708,126,225,12,4151,79,5707,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-17301","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-champions-cup","9":"tag-david-ribbans","10":"tag-features","11":"tag-home-page","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-rugby","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-top-14","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114332314083472796","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17301"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17301\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}