Top 14 Orange
Toulon thump Clermont, Racing 92 see off Toulouse in front of Dan Carter
ESPN Staff
November 28, 2015
Toulon's winger Drew Mitchell scores a try © Getty Images
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European champions Toulon finally kickstarted their stuttering season as they thrashed Top 14 leaders Clermont 35-9 at the Stade Marcel Michelin on Saturday.

Toulon started the day in the bottom half of the table, having also begun the defence of the European Champions Cup with a 32-6 defeat at Wasps last weekend.

But Clermont were handed a rare home defeat with Australian World Cup finalists Matt Giteau and Drew Mitchell, along with their compatriot James O'Connor, all in the Toulon starting line-up.

Delon Armitage ran in for the visitors on 16 minutes following Morgan Parra's early penalty for the hosts. Parra and Armitage then exchanged penalties before Toulon scrum-half Eric Escande went over after a neat exchange with Mitchell.

Toulon went into the break 15-6 ahead, and two more Escande penalties, after Parra kicked his third, extended the European champions' lead.

Clermont replacement Julien Bardy was then sin-binned before referee Mathieu Raynal awarded a penalty try after the hosts infringed as Toulon tried to drive over a rolling maul.

Steffon Armitage then put Mitchell clear to run in the fourth try under the posts, ensuring an attacking bonus-point victory which moves Toulon up to third, just two points behind Clermont.

Carter arrives in France for new chapter

Earlier, Racing 92 saw off Toulouse 28-13 in front of their new superstar signing Dan Carter at Stade Yves-du-Manoir.

Carter arrived in Paris on Friday and watched on as Racing outscored Toulouse three tries to two with Maxime Machenaud putting in a commanding performance at scrum-half for the hosts. He played a key role in teeing up Henry Chevancy for the only try of the first 40 which came on the stroke of half-time.

Come the second 40 and the game was more open with Vincent Clerc scoring in the corner for Toulouse after 53 minutes but Yoann Maestri's yellow card five minutes later for a high tackle allowed Racing to utilise their numerical advantage to bulldoze over through Dimitri Szarzewski.

Toulouse got one try back through Arthur Bonneval to cut Racing's lead to five but they soon got some breathing room back with Chris Masoe scoring off the back of a rolling maul with 12 minutes left.

© AFP PHOTO / MIGUEL MEDINA

Elsewhere Bordeaux-Begles hammered Pau 46-10 with Yann Lesgourgues finishing with a hat-trick. Baptiste Serin, Nans Ducuing and Ole Avei also crossed for the hosts. Castres won 23-18 at Agen with Alex Tulou and Julien Caminati crossing while Brive eased past Oyonnax 34-9 at Stade Charles Mathon.

On Friday, Demetri Catrakilis scored 20 points as Montpellier edged past La Rochelle 25-20 at home. Ben Mowen scored the hosts' only try in the 69th minute and it was the South African fly-half Catrakilis who steered them home. La Rochelle crossed twice with Afaesetiti Amosa and Gagi Bazadze scoring while Zack Holmes and Jules Lebail both finished with five points from the tee.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.

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