French side’s start to the season contrasts sharply to high-flying hosts
Edinburgh’s win over Toulon last December was the high point of a season that fizzled out as winter turned to spring.
The sides meet again at Hive Stadium on Friday with green shoots of recovery evident in the capital side. They have won their opening three games in the United Rugby Championship, their best start to a season in 15 years, and now hope to take this form into Europe.
Whereas last year’s match was in the top-tier Champions Cup, the teams now find themselves in the Challenge Cup. Edinburgh finished 12th in the URC last season while Toulon ended their Top 14 campaign in ninth place.
The French side did reach the semi-finals of the Champions Cup, however, where they lost narrowly to Leinster, the side that eliminated Edinburgh in the last 16. Toulon are a side with an enviable European pedigree having won the top prize three times in a row last decade and the Challenge Cup as recently as 2023.
Early season trouble for Toulon
They have endured a difficult start to their domestic season, losing four of six matches in the Top 14, and their director of rugby, Pierre Mignoni, quit earlier this month, prompting the club’s president, Bernard Lemaître, to fire a broadside at the players, accusing them of not “behaving like competitors”.
They responded by winning their next game, against Racing, and Edinburgh coach Sean Everitt was wary of reading too much into their recent turbulence.
“It's a difficult one,” said Everitt. “There have been changes and changes at a club can make them stronger. Often a team bounces back when a coach has been changed. If you look at the games that they've played, they've conceded the least number of tries in the Top 14. They had a good win on the weekend against Racing.
“I believe that they've turned the corner. They all want to go from strength to strength. They've got another home game coming up after this weekend. I'm sure that Toulon will come here motivated to get a win in the Challenge Cup.”
Ben White starts, Huw Jones not involved
Ben White, the scrum-half, will captain the French side against Edinburgh but there is no place in the squad for his Scotland team-mate Huw Jones who came on against Racing but then had to come off early.
White was excellent in the match against Edinburgh last season, scoring two first-half tries, but it was the hosts who won 33-20 in a match which saw coming of age performances from the young Edinburgh forwards Liam McConnell and Ollie Blyth-Lafferty.
The latter will start again on Friday but there is no place for McConnell who is being rested after starting the previous three matches. In his place comes Tom Currie who has the chance to stake his claim in the back row.
The Challenge Cup is a competition that has suited Edinburgh in the past. They reached the final in 2015 and lost to Bath in the semis a couple of seasons ago. Toulon looks like being their toughest Pool 3 fixture, but with games to come against Vannes, Harlequins and Black Lion there is no reason why they shouldn’t go deep.
Toulon will be thinking along similar lines and, as five-time Challenge Cup finalists, it is a tournament they have always treated seriously.
Toulon’s European pedigree
“Toulon bring with them a huge pedigree in Europe, and we know the challenge that will bring, but we’re excited to meet that challenge head on,” said Everitt, who has selected Darcy Graham for his first start of the season following his swift recovery from a tendon tear in his arm.
Having beaten Ulster, the Stormers and Zebre, Edinburgh are top of the URC and Everitt was keen to dwell on their current form rather than look back to last season’s win over Toulon.
“That was a long time ago and a lot of things have changed since then,” said the coach. “We're a team that's growing from week to week and we see it that way.
“It would be great to put in a good performance at home and that's our focus and get all aspects of our game up to speed to be able to get a result. Toulon are a massive challenge for us. They've been European giants for many a year and having them at the Hive is an exciting opportunity for us to measure ourselves against them again.
“It's never going to be easy against a team of that quality. We certainly are looking forward to this game on Friday night at home.”
Edinburgh Rugby v RC Toulon teams
EPCR Challenge Cup, Pool 3, Hive Stadium, Friday, 8pm
Edinburgh: 15. Piers O’Conor; 14. Darcy Graham, 13. Matt Currie (co-capt), 12. Mosese Tuipulotu, 11. Malelili Satala; 10. James Grayson, 9. Hector Patterson; 1. Pierre Schoeman, 2. Ewan Ashman, 3. Ollie Blyth-Lafferty, 4. Callum Hunter-Hill, 5. Glen Young, 6. Tom Currie, 7. Freddy Douglas, 8. Magnus Bradbury (co-capt). Replacements: 16. Jerry Blyth-Lafferty, 17. Jamie Stewart, 18. Paul Hill, 19. Grant Gilchrist, 20. Euan McVie, 21. Conor McAlpine, 22. Geordie Gwynn, 23. Rory McHaffie.
Toulon: 15. Melvyn Jaminet; 14. Setariki Tuicuvu, 13. Antoine Frisch, 12. Jérémy Sinzelle, 11. Apete Narogo; 10. Matéo Garcia, 9. Ben White (capt); 1. Jean-Baptiste Gros, 2. Gianmarco Lucchesi, 3. Beka Gigashvili, 4. Swan Rebbadj, 5. Corentin Mezou, 6. Zach Mercer, 7. Esteban Abadie, 8. Patrick Tuifua. Replacements: 16. Teddy Baubigny, 17. Samuel Jean-Christophe, 18. Owen Sorhaindo, 19. Luciano Asevedo, 20. Lewis Ludlam, 21. Joe Quere Karaba, 22. Baptiste Serin, 23. Luka Keletaona.
Referee: Ben Breakspear (Wal).