Brive stun Toulon after Du Plessis miss

South African Willie du Plessis missed a penalty after the final hooter that would have given Toulon a draw as the European champions fell to a shock 29-26 defeat at Brive on Saturday.
Gaetan Germain's penalty three minutes from time proved the difference as Toulon crucially missed four penalties in the French Top 14 encounter.
Germain's score looked to have given Brive victory but after the 80 minutes were up they were penalised at their own scrum, giving fly-half Du Plessis a very kickable shot from 40 yards out.
But the 25-year-old was forced to wait as the ball fell off the kicking tee and he cracked under the pressure, dragging his effort wide.
"We gave the match away rather than losing it," moaned Toulon coach Jacques Delmas.
"We were under pressure at the scrum and that cost us the match. With greater success from penalties we could have won."

The victory moved 1997 European champions Brive above Toulon into fifth as the visitors fell to their third defeat in five games this season.
Asked what he felt, Brive coach Nicolas Godignon said: "Joy, obviously! It was a difficult match."
He added: "When you see Agen and Oyonnax's results (both lost), it's been a good weekend."
Du Plessis had got the ball rolling with an early 40-yard drop goal but indiscipline dominated the rest of the first half.
A pair of Germain penalties gave the hosts the lead but he missed a third attempt before Toulon scrum-half Jonathan Pelissie levelled matters from the tee.
Du Plessis took over kicking duties as Pelissie missed a relatively straightforward penalty and landed two more scores before Germain reduced the arrears to 12-9 at the break after an uninspiring half of disjointed rugby.
But the game lit up straight after the restart as Toulon worked the ball wide and Maxime Mermoz just stayed in play long enough to dot down in the corner.
Du Plessis landed the difficult conversion from the right to open up a 10-point gap.
But Brive came storming right back as they got momentum behind a rolling maul and rumbled all the way to the line, where lock Arnaud Mela emerged form underneath a pile of bodies as the try-scorer.
Germain's conversion made it a three-point game once again and Brive received a boost on 50 minutes when Toulon prop Alexandre Menini was sin-binned for an infringement in the scrum.
Just before the France international returned, Germain kicked Brive level and soon after, the hosts stole a Toulon scrum with Teddy Iribaren scampering over to score after an exchange of passes with fly-half Mathieu Ugalde and wing Alfi Mafi who came in off the right flank to find a gap in Toulon's defence.
Brive's tails were up but the European champions would not lie down and they worked a two-man overlap on the left for Australian Lachlan Turner to touch down in the corner.
Both those tries were converted but Toulon then missed two penalty opportunities to take the lead through Du Plessis and English full-back Delon Armitage.
That gave Germain the chance to score the winning points before Du Plessis's costly late miss.
On Friday, Italy captain Sergio Parisse returned from an injury-plagued and disappointing World Cup campaign to inspire champions Stade Francais to a 22-9 victory over Castres.
Parisse, who played 66 minutes despite not being expected to make the starting line-up, had a hand in the only try of the game, scored by Hugo Bonneval on 19 minutes.
Fly-half Jules Plisson kicked 17 points as Stade moved off the bottom of the table with only their second win of the season.

Unbeaten Clermont continue to set the pace after romping to a five-try 35-10 rout of Pro D2 champions Pau.
Montpellier remain second after an impressive 30-19 win at Grenoble while Toulouse are third after a 39-22 success against La Rochelle.
Fourth-placed Racing 92 scored two tries in an 18-9 victory at Oyonnax while promoted Agen slumped to the bottom after losing 31-16 at home to Bordeaux-Begles.

Source: AFP