Toulon victory means fourth final for Parisse

Toulon’s defeat of Leicester in the Challenge Cup yesterday means that they will advance to the final at Stade Maurice David on 16 October with Bristol Bears as the only hurdle left between them and glory.

The Leicester victory also means that legendary Italy and Toulon number 8 Sergio Parisse will enter into his fourth final in this competition.

The 37-year-old led Stade Francais in 2011, 2013 and 2017 finals.

"It feels good to have beaten Leicester, but we want to go on and win the title. We deserve our place in the final," Parisse said.

"This is a young team and I am really happy to be a part of it. I really hope we can go on and win the title.

"We were very clinical in our turnovers and got two tries from them in the first half. We played some good rugby.

"Our set-piece was also very good against a Leicester side that is well known for being good in that area. Now we are looking forward to facing Bristol, who played an amazing game against Bordeaux-Begles."

Meanwhile, the Leicester camp is gutted after the loss to their French foes. The club’s director of rugby Geordan Murphy said:

"We started well, but turned over the ball too much and gifted them their first three scores. There were some huge moments in the game that didn't go our way, but there were also some pleasing things.

"There are no excuses, the better team won on the night. The margins were very fine and we are better than that.

"We had a try disallowed at the end and it will be a bitter pill to swallow for the players. There were three or four very fine decisions.”