Aix-en-Provence (AFP)

Carbonel, Villière, Cordin.

The young shoots of Toulon did not miss their match against Bristol (32-19) but did not manage to weigh enough to return this European Challenge final.

They are only 22 years old on average and played their first European final on Friday in Aix-en-Provence.

For the third defeat of the RCT in Challenge, after 2010 and 2012.

Louis Carbonel, the 21-year-old opener, was the most prominent.

If he had achieved a 100% against the poles until the 71st minute, he had his first failure when Toulon was led by seven points.

The young Toulon, trained at the club and whose father also wore the Red and Black jersey, guided the game perfectly but failed to find the spark of genius to put the RCT back in the race.

Gabin Villière, another fit man in the Rade since the start of the season, also tried to speak all his passion.

But he didn't find the loophole in the English defense either.

The 24-year-old winger has never shied away in defense.

- The young bet -

Always the first to put pressure on the English attack, the player of 1.80 m for 93 kilos even managed to scratch two balls on the ground.

Trained in Rouen, in Federal 1, he is experiencing exponential progress punctuated by the announcement this week of a first selection for the French team, at 24 years old.

But he may also have lacked experience on Friday night.

Gervais Cordin also failed to become the X factor in this final despite a solid performance in defense.

The 21-year-old rear may have lacked a bit of legs: the former Grenoblois had injured his hand in a preparation match and did not come back until last weekend against Montpellier.

If he had scored a try on Saturday against MHR, he did not manage to repeat this performance against the English.

Another Toulonnais who has never shied away in the fight, the international left pillar Jean-Baptiste Gros did not manage to influence this meeting either.

Penalized in scrum at the start of the match, the 21-year-old Varois held his rank afterwards without ever really dominating his vis-à-vis.

The Toulon youth surely took a blow behind the head after this defeat (32-19).

But she showed great things throughout the competition and the experience gained on Saturday night should serve her well for the rest of this very long season.

© 2020 AFP