Champions Cup result: Stormers go down to Toulon in Gqeberha

Baptiste Serin scored 14 points as Toulon overturned a first half deficit to beat the Stormers in their Champions Cup opener in Gqeberha on Saturday.

The Stormers led 14-10 at half time, but the three-time champions regrouped to kick off their 2024-25 campaign with a 24-14 win at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.

The visitors raced into a 10-0 lead with a Gabin Villiere touchdown and five points from the boot of Serin. An acrobatic finish from Warrick Gelant and the first of two conversions from Manie Libbok in the half closed the gap before the close of the first quarter.

Advantage at the stroke of halftime

The hosts took the advantage on the stroke of half time when hooker Joseph Dweba, in his 50th Stormers appearance, emerged from a pile of bodies over the whitewash.

Fellow milestone man, Willie Engelbrecht, copped a yellow card after the restart for collapsing a maul and Toulon made their numerical supremacy count to regain the lead when No 8 Facundo Isa barged over from close range. Serin added the extras.

The veteran scrumhalf burst upfield soon afterwards to notch up his side’s third try of the match, calmly slotting the spotkick for a two-score lead inside the final quarter.

Toulon closed out the match with 13 men following a straight red for replacement forward Yannick Youyoutte and a yellow to fullback Marius Domon, the former for a dangerous hit on Libbok while the latter was pinned for cynical play.

The Stormers, too, were down a man at the death – Leolin Zas sent to the naughty chair for a dubious high tackle – and battled to breach the French giants’ defence for a losing bonus point.

The Stormers will refocus for a trip to south-west London to face Harlequins next Saturday, while Toulon return home for a visit from the reigning Vodacom URC champions, the Glasgow Warriors.

However, Stormers director of rugby John Dobson will be sweating over the availability of Libbok and loose forward Keke Morabe, who was also forced off early in the first half with a knee injury.

This article was first published on sarugbymag.co.za. It is republished here with permission.