Lyon end 89-year barren spell by beating Toulon in Challenge Cup final

Lyon deservedly won their first major rugby trophy in 89 years when they overwhelmed error-strewn triple European champions Toulon 30-12 in an all-French Challenge Cup final in Marseille on Friday.

Appearing in their first major final since they were crowned French champions in 1933, Lyon were on top for most of the game as Toulon looked a pale shadow of the team who overwhelmed Saracens in the semi-finals and fell to a fourth defeat in four finals in Europe's second-tier competition.

Lyon have spent much of the last decade bouncing between France’s top two divisions while Toulon, one of the richest clubs in the world, were winning a hat-trick of European Cups with their star-studded team.

They looked anything but top class on Friday, however, as they committed countless errors and failed to get their big-name players into the game.

Lyon started on the front foot and, though they had a first-minute try ruled out for a knock-on, were soon on the scoreboard when Jordan Taufua intercepted Sergio Parisse on the 22 and popped the ball for Baptiste Couilloud to score.

Toulon barely managed to build an attack until the 16th minute when they charged forward to splinter the Lyon defence and allow Baptiste Serin to dart through.

A Leo Berdeu penalty made it 10-7 to Lyon and they thought they had extended that at the end of the first half, only for Davit Niniashvili to make an error that, had the match turned out differently, might have haunted him forever.

After a great tap and go by Couilloud, the 19-year-old Georgian winger ran round unmolested under the posts but, inexplicably, got too close to the dead ball line and TV replays showed his foot brushed it, ruling out the try.

PENALTY TRY

It was the third Lyon try ruled out by the TMO