Toulon (AFP)

The Stade Français was very close to clinching its first success of the season away from home. But thanks to a penalty passed after the siren, Toulon returned to victory (19-18), and the Parisians are last in the Top 14, Sunday after the 17th day.

Thanks to this success, Toulon takes fourth place in the classification at La Rochelle on equal points with Racing 92, third.

The Parisians hit the bottom of the ranking and are one point behind the penultimate, Agen. And the Stadists can bite their fingers.

An essay by Kylan Hamdaoui, not transformed by Alexis Sanchez, placed the Stade Français in the lead five minutes from the siren. But the Toulon won in extremis thanks to a penalty from Louis Carbonel.

After their defeat at La Rochelle last week, the Varois put the march forward at the Félix-Mayol stadium, but slowly.

With only one penalty passed by the opener Joris Segonds on four opportunities, they were behind at halftime (6-3). After the break, the RCT took a long time to exploit the two yellow cards received by the third Australian line Talalelei Gray (42nd) then by the pillar Sami Mavinga (58th).

But after a good breakthrough from the back Gervais Cordin, and a nice number of Erwan Dridi on his wing, the second line Swan Rebbadj finally marked the first try of the game (62nd).

The Toulonnais did not breathe long, however. Again at 15 and after several playing times, the Stade Français reacted thanks to the winger Lester Etien who came to flatten between the poles (69th).

Double trouble for the Red and Black who lost on the action their second line Brian Alainu'uese who received a yellow card after a new illegal tackle.

And in numerical superiority, the French Stadium found the flaw a second time thanks to a corner test of its rear of Kylan Hamdaoui (75th). But in a tense end to the match, the men of Patrice Collazo recovered a penalty on the 40-meter line in front of the posts.

After the release of Anthony Belleau, it was the young Louis Carbonel who did it. Without trembling, the 21-year-old French opener offered victory to the Toulonnais in a molten Mayol.

© 2020 AFP