Fast and furious is the plan for Scarlets, who twice came unstuck to this evening's opponents in the Challenge Cup pool stage. Here's the lowdown on this quarter-final
Toulon v Scarlets live stream: How to watch from anywhere
These sides met in the Challenge Cup pool stage, Toulon prevailing 17-16 at State Félix Mayol last November and 27-15 back in Llanelli in January.
Those defeats weren’t enough to stop the Welsh franchise progressing from a pool also containing Bayonne and London Irish. Pau looked set to displace them from the top eight seedings but failed to get the try bonus point they needed against Leicester Tigers – having scored three first-half tries.
Scarlets, therefore, might regard this evening’s match at Stade Félix Mayol (8.15pm) almost as a free shot. They will want an open game and a quick tempo as they hope to tire the hulking French forwards. Toulon scored three penalty tries from (collapsed) driving mauls in last week’s 36-14 defeat of Lyon in the Top 14, so the danger of conceding penalties in their own half is all too obvious.
Threat: Scarlets wing Steff Evans has made 11 offloads in this season’s Challenge Cup (Inpho)
“They are athletic, big men,” said Scarlets head coach Glenn Delaney. “We also have some pretty big men in our forward pack too, but the game we want to play is a free-flowing one which has 15 players operating at high skills looking to exploit space.”
Wales internationals Jonathan Davies, Liam Williams and Rhys Patchell all ran out of time to make the side after injury, but Scarlets have an impressive-looking line-up.
There are five changes to the side that finished the Pro14 campaign by beating Dragons 41-20.
Features are European debuts for the club for summer signings Johnny Williams and Sione Kalamafoni, places after injury for Gareth Davies and Blade Thomson, and a return to a former stomping ground for Leigh Halfpenny. Tyler Morgan, signed from the Dragons, is set to make his Scarlets bow.
Toulon have won 11 of their last 12 Challenge Cup games, including their last six in a row. The only defeat in that sequence was the 2012 final when they lost to Biarritz. Giant lock Romain Taofifenua returns to their pack while ex-Worcester wing Bryce Heem shifts to centre to accommodate Gabin Villière.
Toulon lack the superstar names they had during the days of Jonny Wilkinson and Co, but they have France captain Charles Ollivon in the back row alongside one of the all-time greats in Sergio Parisse, still going strong at the age of 37.
Scarlets score a lot of tries from turnovers, in part because Josh Macleod is so adept at turning over the ball. The openside will have a key role to play this afternoon.
Goalkicking could also prove a factor, with Toulon having achieved only a 59% success rate in this season’s competition compared to 89% by the Scarlets.
The clubs have a history of close matches, such as the 2017 meeting in Toulon when Halfpenny and Johnny McNicholl both crossed for tries. Watch highlights of that clash here.
Toulon: Daniel Ikpefan; Masivesi Dakuwaqa, Bryce Heem, Duncan Paia’aua, Gabin Villière; Baptiste Serin, Tane Takulua; Jean Baptiste Gros, Anthony Etrillard (capt), Beka Gigashvili, Swan Rebbadj, Romain Taofifenua, Charles Ollivon, Raphael Lakafia, Sergio Parisse.
Legend: Toulon No 8 Sergio Parisse is the third most-capped player in Test rugby (AFP/Getty Images)
Here we explain how to find a reliable live stream for Toulon v Scarlets wherever you are.
How to watch Toulon v Scarlets from outside your country
If you’re abroad, but still want to watch your local Challenge Cup coverage, like Toulon v Scarlets, you can do so by using a VPN – Virtual Private Network. VPNs allow you to get around any geo-blocking by changing your IP address so you appear in a different location and can watch the same legal Challenge Cup live stream you would at home.
Our friends at TechRadar have tested hundreds of VPN and recommend ExpressVPN, which is easy to use, has strong security features and allows you to watch on several devices at once, including smart TVs and phones, iPads, tablets, PCs and Macs.
Plus, ExpressVPN comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee. You can try it out for a month for free or sign up for an annual plan and get three months free.
Toulon v Scarlets live stream: How to watch from the UK and Ireland
Toulon v Scarlets, which kicks off at 8.15pm, will be shown live on BT Sport 3 in the UK and Ireland. If you don’t have a BT contract but want to watch the match, don’t worry because you can still easily watch it online.
That’s because BT Sport has a contract-free monthly pass that allows you to get instant access to all four of their sport channels for just £25.
If you’re from the UK but are overseas when Toulon v Scarlets takes place, you can get your normal live stream but you’ll need a VPN – see the information above.
This match is also available on free-to-air Welsh language channel S4C.
Toulon v Scarlets live stream: How to watch from France
To watch Toulon v Scarlets (kick-off 9.15pm) in France, beIN Sports is the place to go as they are the main rights holders. It costs €15 a month to access the coverage or if you commit to six months you get a discount of €12 a month.
Toulon v Scarlets live stream: How to watch from the USA
If you live in the States, the official broadcaster of Challenge Cup matches is NBC, with matches streamed on NBC Sports Gold so you can watch them anytime and anywhere.
Toulon v Scarlets will kick off at 3.15pm EST and 12.15pm on the West Coast.
The NBC Sports Gold Pass for rugby is $79.99 and includes coverage of the Gallagher Premiership, European Challenge and Challenge Cups, and Guinness Six Nations.
Toulon v Scarlets live stream: How to watch from South Africa
SuperSport has the rights to broadcast the Challenge Cup in South Africa and you can watch Toulon v Scarlets on SuperSport Rugby at 9.15pm.
There are various DStv packages available that give access to SuperSport, ranging from EasyView, with access to Blitz, to Premium, with all ten sports channels.
Toulon v Scarlets live stream: How to watch from elsewhere
EPCR have launched an OTT service, epcrugby.tv, so you can stream live Challenge Cup matches outside of its core broadcast territories (UK & Ireland, France, USA, Malta, Spain, Andorra and Sub-Saharan Africa).
It’s €1.99 to watch a single Challenge Cup match or you can buy a season pass to watch all of the remaining games of the 2019-20 campaign for €9.99. Or if you want to watch both the Champions and Challenge Cups, it’s €17.99 for a season pass for the rest of 2019-20.
We recommend VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example:
- Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service)
- Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad
We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.
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