The return to some sort of form for Owen Farell and the
solid performance of Johnny Sexton are just two of the positives to have come
out of the Lions’ opening win with Hong Kong today but Johnny Wilkinson –
forever on the lips of those speculating about emergency call ups - can achieve a monumental club double with
Toulon, who are taken to win their second major final of the season.
This was expected to be a re-run of the Heineken Cup final
which Clermont won in such dramatic fashion a couple of weeks ago but they were
completely shocked by Castres, who were utterly dominant when destroying
Clermont in an ‘away’ semi final, leading from start to finish thanks mainly to
their domain scrum.
A repeat performance would see Toulon in serious trouble and
motivation levels are likely to be staggeringly high given how rare this chance
is for Castres – the French league is dominated by big spending teams and their
talisman Rory Kockott is off to Toulouse – but Clermont were clearly stung and
yet to get over their heartbreaking defeat just a week earlier. There were some
concerns over how motivated Toulon would be after their win but they crushed
Toulouse with minimal fuss in the second half of their semi final and will have
nothing on their minds but winning today.
Castres monstered Clermont in the scrums when they won, but
today they face arguably the finest club pack in Europe and they will do well
to get anything from the Clermont front row in tonight’s final. They will offer
stern resistance early, but no side (barring Clermont) has yet been able to
stop the late onslaught of Laporte’s men and Castres may suffer the same fate
once again.
Advice
1 pt Toulon -3 on second half handicap (5/6 Coral)
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