Edinburgh suffered their first defeat of the season as they went down to Toulon in their European Challenge Cup opener. Melvyn Jaminet inspired the French side to victory, scoring two tries and contributing 22 points in a superb individual display. The France full-back kicked two penalties, the second from well inside his own half, to give the visitors a 6-0 lead.
Edinburgh engineered some good openings but were unable to break through against fierce French goal-line defence. James Grayson kicked a penalty to reduce the gap to three points heading into the break. Toulon struck early in the second half when Edinburgh were turned over in the French 22. The ball was spun wide to Jaminet, who sprinted free, chipped ahead and gathered to go over for a wonderful score.
The home side hit back almost immediately with a cleverly worked set-piece. Ewan Ashman threw to Tom Currie coming through the middle of the lineout, and Currie then set Ashman free to race up the touchline and over the line to make it a three-point game once again. A powerful Toulon maul drove them to the brink of the Edinburgh line before Scotland scrum-half Ben White slipped a delayed pass to Seta Tuicuvu to crash over. At 20-10 down, the game looked to be slipping away.
Edinburgh responded again when Currie's tackle caused Toulon fly-half Matteo Garcia to fumble in midfield, and replacement Geordie Gwynn scooped up and raced free to go in under the posts. Toulon were undeterred, however, and another rolling maul laid the platform for Jeremy Sinzelle to slip in Jaminet for his second try of the night, all but ending Edinburgh's resistance.
Source: BBC Sport · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing