Saturday 27 September 2014 22:02, UK
Clermont sit on top of the Top 14 table as they became the first visiting team to taste victory at Oyonnax, while Grenoble showed their credentials for a title challenge with an impressive triumph over Racing Metro.
Elsewhere Brive and Lyon picked up vital victories at home to Bordeaux-Bègles and Castres respectively.
Oyonnax 8-19 Clermont
Clermont continued their impressive start to the season with a third away victory, downing Oyonnax 19-8 at Charles Mathon.
The two teams exchanged penalties before Butch James kicked Clermont ahead as tempers frayed, with Maurie Fa'asavalu escaping a yellow card only because he missed Morgan Parra when he threw an elbow at the scrum-half.
James added a third penalty and his side took a firm grip on proceedings when Canadian lock Jamie Cudmore used his power to go over as Oyonnax finally succumbed after a period of sustained pressure in their own 22.
With seven minutes remaining Viliame Ma'afu spotted a huge gap in the visiting ruck defence to dive over; it was the first try Clermont had conceded since the opening game of the season.
Brive 34-24 Bordeaux-Begles
Brive got a much-needed win as they cruised past Bordeaux-Begles - who had a player sin-binned in each half - to move out of the bottom two in the Top 14
In the last ten minutes of the first half, Brive took control with two tries in quick succession. First Guillaume Namy finished off an excellent move before they added another through Benito Masilevu, who took a quick penalty close to the Bordeaux line and dived over.
Former Bordeaux player Sisa Koyamaibole showed all his power to crash over in the second half, but the visitors fought back well in the closing stages and recorded tries of their own through replacement scrum-half Baptiste Serin and a penalty try after a powerful scrum.
Grenoble 27-25 Racing Metro
Grenoble continued their impressive home form as they saw off a dogged Racing Metro side at the Stade des Alpes, albeit with Antonie Claassen's try in the final play allowing the Parisians to pick up a losing bonus point.
Charl McLeod touched down to open the scoring and Chris Farrell also went over, the Irish centre taking advantage of a mistake from Jamie Roberts to burst through in midfield and score his first try for the club.
The home team led 17-6 at the break, however Racing stayed in touch with a couple of penalties from Benjamin Dambielle, the second after a high tackle by Nigel Hunt which earned the centre a yellow card.
Another Goosen penalty cut the deficit to five as the momentum swung Racing's way and with the help of a dominant scrum, they grabbed a try at the death that secured a losing bonus point, after Hendrik Roodt had been sin-binned.
Lyon 28-18 Castres
Lyon proved too strong in the second half as they downed Castres at Matmut Stadium, the result leaving last year's runners-up bottom of the table after seven rounds of the season.
The game had started perfectly for the visitors as they scored the opening try after just two minutes, Romain Martial having the pace to reach his own chip over the top.
Stephen Brett's boot, along with a try for Ricky Januarie when he was the man to emerge from a powerful maul, put Lyon in control and they opened up a double-digit lead when ex-Castres centre Paul Bonnefond finished off a fine first-phase move.
Full-back Romain Loursac scored their third try as they took complete control and although Castres rallied late on, they'd left themselves too much to do to claim a losing bonus point.
Stade Francais 43-10 La Rochelle
Stade Francais bounced back from last week's loss at Montpellier with a convincing win over La Rochelle at Jean Bouin, running in seven tries in Paris.
Jonathan Danty and Julien Arias bagged two tries apiece, while Krisnan Inu scored his first try for the club when La Rochelle found themselves down to 14 men for the second time in the match.
They did at least have the final say when Kevin Gourdon stretched over after some pick and drives from the visitors, Julien Audy converting with the final kick of the game.
