Toulon beat Leinster to march on to Heineken Cup semi-final

Brian O’Driscoll has played his last Heineken Cup game as Leinster crashed out in the quarter-finals losing to Toulon 29-14 at the Stade Mayol.
In a game headlined by the battle between two of the greatest players the sport as seen, Jonny Wilkinson and O’Driscoll, the French giants got the better of their Irish counterparts thanks to a powerful second half performance and tries from Xavier Chiocci and Drew Mitchell.
The champions will now face Munster, who disposed of Toulouse yesterday, in the semi-finals in Marseille on April 27.
The hosts had the better start and Wilkinson opened a 6-0 lead with two successful kick from the tee.
But Leinster found their feet and Jimmy Gopperth levelled the score with two penalties of his own as Wilkinson left the field succumbing to the tight hamstring that troubled him for the past two weeks.
Toulon enjoyed most of the possession and territory but mistakes and the Leinster defence kept them out to see the score tied at 6-6 at the half-time.
Issues must have been addressed in the changing rooms though as Toulon had a storming start of the second half.
Matt Giteau first kicked a long-range penalty before Chiocci barged his way over from close range and, all a sudden, Toulon had a 16-6 lead only five minutes into the second half.
Gopperth reduced the gap at the second time of asking with his third penalty of the game but, just after the hour, Toulon and Drew Mitchell put the final nail in Leinster’s coffin.
As the Irish lost possession in Toulon’s 22, the ball was kicked downfield and regathered by Maxime Mermoz. The French centre could not score but a few phases later Mathieu Bastareaud set-up Mitchell with a subtle offload.
Delon Armitage kicked a monstrous penalty from 60 yards to extend the lead but Leinster grabbed a consolation try as Jordi Murphy went over in the corner from the back of a driving maul.
Toulon had the final word though as Giteau slotted his second penalty of the game in the dying minutes despite playing with 14 men after replacement Florian Fresia was shown a yellow card fro going off his feet.
For Toulon
Tries: Chiocci, Mitchell; Conversions: Giteau (2); Penalties: Wilkinson (2), Giteau (2), Armitage
For Leinster
Tries: Muphy; Penalties: Gopperth (3)
Toulon: Delon Armitage; Drew Mitchell, Mathieu Bastareaud, Matt Giteau, David Smith; Jonny Wilkinson (Capt.), Sebastien Tillous-Borde; Xavier Chiocci, Craig Burden, Carl Hayman ; Danie Rossouw, Jocelino Suta ; Juan Smith, Juan Fernandez Lobbe, Steffon Armitage.
Replacements: Jean-Charles Orioli, Florian Fresia, Martin Castrogiovanni, Virgile Bruni, Bryan Habana, Maxime Mermoz, Michael Claassens, Konstantine Mikautadze.
Leinster: Rob Kearney; Fergus McFadden, Brian O’Driscoll, Gordon D’Arcy, Dave Kearney; Jimmy Gopperth, Eoin Reddan; Cian Healy, Richardt Strauss, Mike Ross; Devin Toner, Mike McCarthy; Rhys Ruddock, Shane Jennings, Jamie Heaslip (Capt.).
Replacements: Sean Cronin, Jack McGrath, Martin Moore, Leo Cullen, Jordi Murphy, Isaac Boss, Ian Madigan, Zane Kirchner.
Referee: Wayne Barnes (RFU)