Heineken Cup: Toulon's Jonny Wilkinson sticks boot into Cardiff Blues
Jonny Wilkinson kicked 17 points as Toulon handed Cardiff Blues their second loss in Pool Six of the Heineken Cup.
By Graeme Mair
Last Updated: 21/10/12 10:42pm
Wilkinson's haul - consisting of five penalties and a conversion - was supplemented by a second-half try from Steffon Armitage as Toulon ran out 22-14 winners at Cardiff Arms Park.
Cardiff, looking to respond after last week's loss at Sale, scored the opening try inside two minutes after the ball was moved quickly from a scrum through the back division to Tom James on the left wing. James stretched his legs, drew his man and released Halfpenny on the inside for a run to the line.
Halfpenny failed with the conversion and Wilkinson soon showed him how it's done, landing a pair of penalties to move the French side 6-5 ahead after quarter-of-an-hour.
Cardiff suffered a further setback when outside centre Gavin Evans was stretchered off after slipping and taking an accidental blow to the face in a collision with Toulon full-back Delon Armitage.
Halfpenny's place kicking was erratic; he scuffed one penalty attempt after a lineout infringement, made amends just before half-time to give Cardiff a 9-8 advantage at the break and then slipped over and missed a third chance in the 51st minute.
A penalty exchange between Wilkinson and Halfpenny, albeit after again not making clean contact, meant the Blues held a one-point lead with less than 20 minutes remaining.
But Toulon struck the decisive blow in the 63rd minute, Matt Giteau setting up a close-range finish for Steffon Armitage after breaking the first line of defence with a show-and-go.
The conversion made it 19-11 to Toulon and Wilkinson answered a further penalty from Halfpenny to deny Cardiff even a bonus point.
Cardiff now have to break new ground to make the quarter-finals as no side has ever qualified after losing their opening two matches. Toulon sit top of Pool Six on nine points, although Sale can join them with a bonus-point success over Montpellier later on Sunday.