Toulouse gatecrash Halfpenny's Toulon bow

Toulouse condemned Leigh Halfpenny to a painful Top 14 introduction on Sunday with an impressive 21-10 victory over defending French and European champions Toulon.
The Welsh full-back was making his debut having not played since March due to a shoulder and groin injury, but he was overshadowed by the 19-time French champions who built on ending their worst losing run in over 50 years last weekend.
Victory moved Toulouse up into eighth position in the table while Toulon remain second, three points behind Clermont.
"For us, it was vital to win. For Toulon, to win here would have been a real scalp," said Toulouse boss Guy Noves.
"There are no guarantees, we are happy to have defeated Toulon but we know that it's a long road ahead and we need to win away and stop losing at home."
Toulon backs coach Pierre Mignoni said his team will bounce back.
"We were dominated in the first half, but we saw in the second half that we could do some things. It's a shame. We will learn and recover," he said.
Toulouse were 16-0 to the good at the break making a mockery of Toulon being able to welcome back Rugby Championship trio Bryan Habana, Bakkies Botha and Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe.
French centre Gael Fickou scored Toulouse's first try after just six minutes, barrelling over after confidently grabbing Luke McAlister's testing and accurate up-and-under.
McAlister landed the conversion before adding three penalties for a convincing interval advantage while Halfpenny's most telling contribution was a try-saving tackle on winger Yoann Huget.
Toulouse were 21-0 ahead early in the second half with Huget scoring after being released courtesy of a lightning offload from veteran No8 Imanol Harinordoquy.
Toulon finally got on the scoresheet when Habana kicked ahead after a turnover, the South African winger sprinting almost the length of the pitch to score under the posts.
James O'Connor added a late penalty but Toulon were left with plenty to ponder ahead of the start of their European title defence next weekend.
On Saturday, two tries from Australian winger Blair Connor helped Bordeaux-Begles to a stunning 59-7 thrashing of last season's beaten finalists and 2013 champions Castres.
Fijian scoring machine Metuisela Talebula and scrum-half Yann Lesgourgues also grabbed a brace apiece in what was a record victory for the hosts since their return to the Top 14 four years ago.
"It is a huge and deserved defeat given the quality of Bordeaux's play and our apathetic attitude throughout the match," said Castres manager and former player Matthias Rolland.
"We have been in a bad place for some time now away from home and this confirmed it while Bordeaux are riding on a cloud and are real contenders in this championship."
The only Castres player who might have had reason to celebrate was their South African-born kicking scrum-half Rory Kockott, who did not play, as two rivals for kicking duties during the November Tests suffered injuries.
Montpellier fly-half Francois Trinh-Duc will miss at least three months with a broken right leg suffered in the first-half of his side's 25-9 win against Oyonnax.
There was also an injury scare for Clermont scrum-half Morgan Parra -- who had been left out of the three-day France get together in September -- as he went off just after the half hour mark in the 30-10 victory over La Rochelle.
Bordeaux are third in the table, a point adrift of Toulon with Montpellier fourth one point behind them.
Stade Francais moved into fifth after they won the Paris derby later on Saturday, beating Racing-Metro 23-19.
Source: AFP