There was an incredible atmosphere at the impressive Stade Mayol, bathed in sunshine, as the Blues got ready to take on the stars of Toulon. Halfpenny got an early penalty for the Blues before a wave of attack from Toulon commenced, but the Blues defence remained solid.

Both sides were looking to run the ball and it was the Blues who scored the first try, and it was a great one.

From a messy scrum Warburton managed to get the ball out to Patchell. He fed Roberts, who again put in a well-timed pass to late replacement Owen Williams. The Aberdare youngster picked a great angle to cut through the midfield and showed his pace to round Armitage, before offloading superbly for Leigh Halfpenny to touch down in the corner.

Toulon hit back instantly. They worked the ball well into the Blues twenty-two before using an overlap for Wilkinson to put in a long pass to Rudi Wulf to run in unopposed on the right. Wilkinson got the extras. It was a hugely entertaining match with both teams playing expansive rugby.

Toulon scored their second soon after. This time opting to kick a penalty for a line out before the forwards charged for the tryline, with prop forward Chiocci forcing his way over. Wilkinson was again accurate.

Toulon nearly got the third after Delon Armitage broke into the Blues half and Wilkinson again found Wulf, but this time the winger squandered the chance by trying to pass back inside and the Blues recovered. It was only a temporary reprieve for the Blues as number 8 Masoe passed to Oriloli to score in the corner from short range.

Half time RC Toulon 19 Cardiff Blues 8

It was a dreadful start to the second half for the Blues. A missed clearance to touch saw Wilkinson gather, who shipped it on to Michalak. The scrum half threw along pass out to Masoe, before Delon Armitage put in a neat chip that cruelly bounced away from Halfpenny and into the hands of Maxime Mermoz who touched down for the bonus point try that Wilkinson converted.

The next try saw Bastareaud batter through three tacklers before off loading to Palisson to sprint in and moment later Bastareaud scored himself, this time choosing a good angle and coming in at speed.

The Blues made the same mistake again, failing to find touch proving costly. This time it was Steffon Armatage to counter attacked and Fresia powered over. Giteau converted.

Despite looking dead and buried the Blues did fight back. Cuthbert scored the first following good attacking play by Lewis Jones and Owen Williams, and an excellent long pass from Roberts.

The third saw Cuthbert break and supported well by Sweeney. He held up the ball well for Hewitt, who cut back to score in the corner to make it 45-18.

The very last move of the match saw Halfpenny show his pace to break through the line and sprint in from 45 yards under the posts, before converting his try.

Cardiff Blues 15. Leigh Halfpenny 14. Alex Cuthbert 13. Owen Williams 12. Jamie Roberts (70off) 11. Harry Robinson 10. Rhys Patchell (56off) 9. Lewis Jones (75off)

8. Robin Copeland 7. Sam Warburton 6. Josh Navidi (c ) (75off) 5. Lou Reed (60off) 4. James Down 3. Benoit Bourrust (45off) 2. Rhys Williams (60off) 1. Sam Hobbs (75off)

16. Kristian Dacey (60on) 17. Nathan Trevett (75on) 18. Scott Andrews (45on) 19. Macauley Cook (60on) 20. Luke Hamilton (75on)21 Gareth Davies (75on) 22. Ceri Sweeney (56on) 23. Dafydd Hewitt (70on)

Toulon: 15 Delon Armitage, 14 Rudi Wulf, 13 Mathieu Bastareaud, 12 Maxime Mermoz, 11 Alexis Palisson, 10 Jonny Wilkinson (capt) 9 Frédéric Michalak,

1 Chris Masoe, 2 Steffon Armitage, 3 Pierrick Gunther, 4 Nick Kennedy, 5 Jocelino Suta, 6 Carl Hayman, 7 Jean-Charles Orioli, 8 Xavier Chiocci

16 Sébastien Bruno, 17 Florian Fresia, 18 Simon Shaw 19 Davit Kubriashvili 20 Joe Van Niekerk 21 Matt Giteau 22 David Smith 23 Nicolas Durand

Cardiff Blues

Tries Halfpenny x 1 Cuthbert x 1 Hewitt x 1 Halfpenny x 1
Pen Halfpenny x 1
Con Halfpenny x 1
DG

RC Toulon

Tries Wulf x 1 Chiocci x 1 Orioli x 1 Mermoz x 1 Palisson x 1 Bastareaud x 1 Fresia x 1
Pen
Con Wilkinson x 4 Giteau x 1
DG

Yellow Cards
Attendance