The French heavyweights marked their fifth appearance in the final by outclassing maiden finalists Glasgow Warriors 43-19, scoring six tries in front of 31,514 fans at the Aviva Stadium through Baptiste Serin (2), Sergio Parisse, Jiuta Wainiqolo, Waisea Nayacalevu and Ihaia West.

Glasgow endured an error-strewn first half, failing to score as Toulon stormed into a 21-0 lead, and although they improved after the break, tries from Kyle Steyn (2) and Sebastian Cancelliere came too little too late.

There was an early setback for Toulon as influential fly-half Dan Biggar was forced off with a head knock, but they were undeterred, scrum-half Serin executing a perfect grubber kick, which he gathered and touched down for a superb opening try on four minutes.

Glasgow conceded again with just over a quarter of an hour played, legendary No.8 Parisse crashing over under the posts for a fitting score on his final club appearance.

Toulon made it three tries inside the opening 25 minutes courtesy of Serin’s second effort. The Scottish region saw a lineout go awry just inside their own half and Toulon pounced, shifting the ball out to the right before Serin dummied and darted over with ease.

In the absence of Biggar, Serin converted all three tries to put his side 21 points up, but he too was forced off after landing awkwardly when making a tackle in the final play of the first half.

Glasgow enjoyed the better start to the second half but found themselves 24 points adrift on 50 minutes, when Toulon replacement scrum-half Benoit Paillaugue slotted a penalty from 40 metres.

Wing and captain Steyn then handed Warriors a lifeline as he cut inside to finish clinically, scrum-half George Horne’s conversion reducing the margin to 17 points on 56 minutes.

But Toulon hit back instantly, wing Wainiqolo jinking through for a cracking try before centre Nayacalevu powered over from close range five minutes later. Paillaugue converted the latter try.

Glasgow notched two further tries as wing Cancelliere dived over in the corner on 68 minutes before another excellent Steyn finish five minutes later. However, Toulon had the final word when replacement fly-half West glided through for a converted try in the dying seconds.

With the draw for next season’s EPCR Challenge Cup taking place on Wednesday, we take a final look back at the 2022-23 competition and on how RC Toulon lifted the trophy for the first time, in Dublin.