European Champions Cup: Scarlets 30-27 Toulon

Scott Williams is halted by Toulon

Scarlets became the first Welsh region for six years to reach the quarter-finals of Europe's premier club competition, with a storming victory over three-time winners Toulon.

Wayne Pivac's side won in front of a crowd of 14,476 at Parc y Scarlets to top Pool Five of the Champions Cup.

They must wait for the results of Sunday's matches to discover whether they will host a home quarter-final.

Toulon are also guaranteed a last-eight spot as one of the leading runners-up.

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Scarlets' achievement is all the better for they lost their first two pool matches - they are only the third team in history to progress after such a poor start.

The Scarlets lost to Bath and Toulon to find themselves on the brink of elimination after only just beating Treviso in their third game in December 2017.

After winning the return fixture in Italy, they followed up a brilliant victory at Bath to win a fourth successive European match against Toulon and secure a place in the last eight of Europe's top tier for the first time since 2007.

Tries from Tom Prydie, man of the match Hadleigh Parkes and Dan Jones proved enough.

Toulon's Semi Radradra tackles Gareth Davies

All five tries came in the first half, with a breathless opening 40 minutes followed by a cagey second period as the Scarlets held on.

The home side started superbly and, after running Toulon ragged, crossed for the opening try in the third minute when Rhys Patchell's long pass found Prydie to score. Dan Jones converted.

Toulon responded immediately when South African number eight Duane Vermeulen scored following a well-worked lineout move.

Jones kicked a penalty after Toulon were caught offside, with a Vermeulen tackle on James Davies also going unpunished.

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Captain Ken Owens suffered an injury to his left leg, but after lengthy treatment, the Wales hooker continued.

Anthony Belleau reduced the deficit to two points with a penalty and Toulon took the lead with an opportunist try from England wing Chris Ashton.

The former Saracens man intercepted a speculative Patchell pass and sprinted 70 metres to score despite Paul Asquith's desperate tap tackle.

Belleau converted, but the Toulon's fly-half's kick was charged down from the restart by Aaron Shingler, whose dribbling skills allowed the ball to pop up for Parkes to score. Jones converted before swapping penalties with Belleau.

Scarlets' relentless attack continued with a Parkes kick and follow-up while a James Davies tackle set up an attacking platform.

Jones scoring a converted try from the lineout before Belleau slotted over a penalty to reduce the deficit to 27-21 in a breathless first half.

A scrappier start to the second half was brought to order with a long-range kick from Patchell and replacement Francois Trinh-Duc responding with two penalties.

Leigh Halfpenny made his first appearance for three weeks when he came on as a 66th-minute replacement for Jones with Patchell moving up to outside-half.

Toulon, with former All Blacks centre Ma'a Nonu prominent, piled on the pressure, with replacement prop Emerick Setiano held up over the line by Asquith and Halfpenny, typifying Scarlets' resolve.

Toulon tried for a draw in the dying stages, but a long-range Trinh-Duc drop-goal attempt went wide to spark wild celebrations.

Scarlets: Rhys Patchell; Tom Prydie, Hadleigh Parkes, Scott Williams, Paul Asquith; Dan Jones, Gareth Davies; Rob Evans, Ken Owens (capt), Samson Lee, Tadhg Beirne, David Bulbring, Aaron Shingler, James Davies, John Barclay.

Replacements: Ryan Elias, Wyn Jones, Werner Kruger, Lewis Rawlins, Will Boyde, Aled Davies, Steff Hughes, Leigh Halfpenny.

Toulon: Hugo Bonneval; JP Pietersen, Semi Radradra, Ma'a Nonu, Chris Ashton; Anthony Belleau, Alby Mathewson; Florian Fresia, Guilhem Guirado, Marcel Van Der Merwe, Juandre Kruger, Romain Taofifenua, Facundo Isa, aphael Lakafia, Duane Vermeulen.

Replacements: Anthony Etrillard, Xavier Chiocci, Emerick Setiano, Juan Fernandez Lobbe, Francois Trinh-Duc, Jean Monribot, Eric Escande, Samu Manoa.

Referee: Wayne Barnes (Eng)

Assistant referees: Tom Foley (Eng), Paul Dix (Eng)

TMO: David Grashoff (Eng)

Citing Commissioner: Wade Dooley (Eng)