Top 14 round-up: Antoine Dupont brace helps Toulouse to summit while England prospect scores in Toulon’s first victory

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Top 14 round-up: Antoine Dupont brace helps Toulouse to top table while England prospect scores in Toulon's first victory

Top 14 round-up: Antoine Dupont brace helps Toulouse to top table while England prospect scores in Toulon's first victory

Toulouse took their place at the summit of the Top 14 with victory over the weekend, while Toulon finally picked up a win to create space at the bottom of the table.

Here’s the full round-up from the French top division.

Perpignan 38-25 Bordeaux Bègles

A Tom Willis try before the half wasn’t enough to stop a fired-up Perpignan from taking all five points at the Stade Aime Giral on Saturday, as they ran away with an impressive 13-point victory.

Bordeaux played catch-up for most of the game, leading for only five minutes when Hugo Reus sunk an early penalty, before three unanswered tries from the hosts left the European champions looking devoid of hope.

Tries either side of the half from Willis and Nicolas Depoortere were enough to fill the visitors with optimism, but a second-half masterclass from Tristan Tedder extinguished any chance of a comeback.

Perpignan rise up the table into ninth place with this victory, while Bordeaux drop to 10th, just a point ahead.

Clermont 20-6 Castres

Argentine winger Bautista Delguy got the scores rolling in the sixth minute after slick hands found him out wide, before Alivereti Raka doubled the account with a try of his own.

Castres offered little on attack, only taking three points from their seven 22 metre entries, and adding a further three points from slightly further out. A yellow card for Simon Meka at the death summed up what was a rather disappointing afternoon for the visitors.

The two sides pass each other in the table, with Clermont rising to sixth, while Castres drop to 10th.

Racing 92 17-20 Bayonne

Fine margins and indiscipline were the two storylines behind this one. The two sides swapped scores throughout the game, with neither able to gain a score buffer.

But two second-half yellow cards from Racing turned the tide. Benjamin Boudou and Hassane Kolingar were both sent to the bench, one after the other, meaning that the Paris-based side effectively spent most of the final 20 minutes down to 14 men.

Substitute Lucas Martin powered over in the 76th minute to secure victory, creating a gap between Racing and Vannes at the bottom of the Top 14, while Bayonne’s loss sees them slip to 4th. 

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Stade Français 31-10 Lyon

Lyon had a shock to the system on Saturday with their first loss of the season.

They started off well, taking a 0-10 lead, but failed to add to their total for the rest of the match. Instead, Stade Français scored tries either side of the half, before Lyon players Baptiste Couilloud and Beka Saginadze were both sent to the bin, leaving their side down to 13 men.

Three further tries would come for the hosts, resulting in an impressive bonus-point victory and a step up to eighth in the table, while Lyon dropped to second.

Toulon 28-10 Vannes

This was a bottom-of-the-table match-up, and after coming close in their first three matches, Toulon finally had their first win.

Tries from former international David Ribbans, England prospect Junior Kpoku, Argentina fly-half Tomas Albornoz and former France defensive leader Gael Fickou were enough to secure the bonus point, while the visitors could only manage a try through Nathanael Hulleu.

Vannes remain rooted to the bottom of the table, while Toulon draw level on points with La Rochelle and Castres.

Pau 39-17 La Rochelle

Pau continued their impressive start to the season with victory over the former European champions. Argentina captain Julian Montoya scored first in the opening quarter, before Rodrigo Marta and Lekso Kaulashvili added to their early lead.

The two sides swapped scores in the second half, but thanks to the excellent kicking display of former Exeter Chiefs fly-half Joe Simmonds, the scoreboard was always out of reach.

Pau sit in third in the table after winning three of their first four matches, while La Rochelle drop down to 11th.

Toulouse 40-18 Montpellier

A brace from Antoine Dupont helped the reigning Top 14 champions to victory at the Stade Ernest-Wallon on Sunday. 

Two early yellow cards for the hosts did nothing other than delay their eventual onslaught over the visitors, with Adam Hastings’ lead-taking penalty lasting just seven minutes before Romain Ntamack slid through for Toulouse’s first.

Braces from Teddy Thomas, Dupont, and Ntamack would seal the result, while Montpellier scored three of their own through Arthur Vincent, Jon Echegaray and substitute Lyam Akrab.

With this win, Toulouse take their place at the head of the table, while Montpellier join the mixer in ninth.

# TEAM P W D L PD PTS

1
Stade Toulousain

 4 3 0 1 61 15

2
Section Paloise

 4 3 0 1 46 14

3
Lyon

 4 3 0 1 26 14

4
Bayonnais

 4 3 0 1 -16 13

5
Bordeaux Begles

 4 2 0 2 40 10

6
Clermont

 4 2 0 2 -3 10

7
Montpellier

 4 2 0 2 21 9

8
USA Perpignan

 4 2 0 2 -12 9

9
Stade Francais

 4 2 0 2 -16 9

10
Toulon

 4 1 0 3 14 8

11
Castres Olympique

 4 2 0 2 -17 8

12
La Rochelle

 4 2 0 2 -28 8

13
Racing 92

 4 1 0 3 -69 5

14
Vannes

 4 0 0 4 -47 0

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