Toulouse hit Toulon for six
Toulouse stormed to the summit of the Top 14 standings on Saturday with a crushing 44-5 win over Toulon at Stade Ernest Wallon.
Last Updated: 31/10/10 5:17pm
Toulouse stormed to the summit of the Top 14 standings on Saturday with a crushing 44-5 win over Toulon at Stade Ernest Wallon.
French champions Clermont put on one of their best displays of the season to record a bonus-point win against Stade Français.
After Racing Métro drew with Perpignan on Friday night, Montpellier held on to second in the standings with victory on the road at Bayonne thanks to an impressive second-half performance.
Biarritz had to come from behind to turn the tables on Brive while Agen beat La Rochelle in a crucial battle of the relegation candidates.
As expected, Castres had no troubles in dispatching Bourgoin, leaving les Berjalliens stuck to the bottom of standings.
Dominated
Toulouse look unstoppable at the moment and their six-try demolition of Toulon saw them storm to the top of the standings.
Missing couple of first-choice players, it was always going to be tough for Toulon, but few expected les Varois to be dominated in such comprehensive fashion.
There was only one team on the park as Toulouse raced to a 25-0 lead by half-time.
Tries for Maxime Medard, Vincent Clerc and Clement Poitrenaud had the hosts cruising and France coach Marc Lièvremeont with plenty to think about after leaving Clerc and Poitrenaud out of his squad on Wednesday.
Prop Yohan Montes extended the lead to 32-0 soon after the break. English centre Tom May pulled a try back for Toulon with dart down the blindside on the hour mark but Toulouse weren't ready to slow down as number eight Louise Picamoles, who also missed out on national selection, charged over.
Medard added his second try with ten minutes left on the clock to cap a dominant display in front of a sell-out crowd.
Clermont thoroughly deserve their bonus point, snatched in the 82nd minute, after easing to a 27-3 win over Stade Francais in Paris.
Clermont had the better of the first half, playing some very attractive rugby without much reward to lead 6-0 at the break.
Stade Français were well organised and aggressive on defence and opened their account in the second period when fly-half Lionel Beauxis slotted a drop goal.
Stade captain Sergio Parisse was sent to the bin for a high tackle on Morgan Parra with half an hour to play and the hosts immediately took advantage of the extra man as Julien Malzieu set Parra up to score the game's first try.
Parisse returned just in time to see Aurélien Rougerie break clear to set up hooker Ti'i Paulo for les Jaunards' second try.
It was all-Clermont in the last quarter and they were finally rewarded with the bonus-point third try when Gonzalo Canale touched down after the hooter.
Trailing 21-9 early in the second half, Biarritz made an incredible comeback to sink Brive 27-21 at Stade Amédée Domenech.
Brive were running the show until completely falling apart in the last quarter.
The hosts deserved their 14-9 half-time lead as they did most of the playing and were rewarded with a try for prop Damien Browne. Biarritz managed to stay in touch thanks to three penalties from Julien Peyrelongue.
The hosts stretched the gap to 21-9 when flank Gerhard Vosloo scored but threw their opponents a lifeline when scrum-half Mathieu Belie was shown a yellow card for standing on Damien Traille.
Traille, playing at fly-half, reacted by creating a try for centre Arnaud Mignardi and then slotting a drop goal to reduce the gap to 21-19.
Traille was also at the origin of Biarritz's third try, breaking the line to set up number eight Florian Faure. Dimitri Yachvili added a late penalty to seal the deal.
Full house
As expected, Castres picked up a bonus point following their 41-24 thrashing of bottom club Bourgoin.
It was one-way traffic in the first half as Castres raced to a 22-3 half-time lead with three unanswered tries for backs Marc Andreu, Seremaia Bai and Vincent Inigo.
Bourgoin struck back shortly after the break when number eight Yan Labrit broke off a five-metre scrum to touch down.
Three more tries in the second half, including one for Chris Masoe - who also earned a yellow card for a late tackle - handed Castres a full house of points, sending them up to sixth in the standings.
Bayonne slumped to their fifth consecutive defeat after a 29-18 beating at the hands of Montpellier at Stade Jean Dauger.
Bayonne enjoyed the lion's share of possession and territory in the first half but gave away too many penalties, allowing Montpellier to stay in the game.
It was all square at 12-12 when the teams swapped ends with Bayonne fly-half Benjamin Boyet and Montpellier's Argentine wing Martin Moyano exchanging penalties.
Montpellier stepped up a gear in the second period and took the lead three minutes after the restart when fly-half François Trinh-Duc broke the line to score under the posts.
Boyet reduced the gap with half-an hour left but Trinh-Duc replied with a drop goal.
The death blow came in the 80th minute when Montpellier wing Jean-Mathieu Alcalde scored an interception try. Moyano's conversion denied Bayonne a losing bonus point.
