Toulon kick-start season at Stade Francais

Under-pressure Toulon kick-started their season with a first win of the Top 14 campaign as they beat reigning champions Stade Francais 20-13 away on Sunday.

The three-time European champions have had a stuttering start, losing their first two games to Racing 92 and Castres, as they struggle without 20 of their international players on duty ahead of the upcoming World Cup in England.

"There is no satisfaction or relief in having won," admitted Toulon coach Bernard Laporte.

"It's a long road. I simply told the players that we weren't going to leave a difficult heritage to the 20 players who weren't there.

"I'm proud of their rebellion and reaction. It's only the third game so we're not going to get too excited."

Fijian winger Sireli Bobo put 2014 winners Toulon on the scoreboard first with an eighth-minute try, but it was Stade Francais who went into the locker room leading 13-10 at the break thanks to two Jules Plisson penalties and a conversion following Raphael Lakafia's 34th-minute try.

But the hosts failed to add to their tally after the break with a Faf Du Plessis penalty on 58 minutes levelling for Toulon at 13-13.
Both sides stayed deadlocked until Lachlan Turner barged over with a try four minutes from time to seal victory, with Jonathan Pelissie converting.

The loss is worrying for the Parisians who are sitting 12th and travel to Montpellier, who came away with a 24-22 win from Bordeaux-Begles earlier on Sunday, next weekend, before a month-long break because of the World Cup.

"We have to congratulate Toulon who, as we expected, had a lot of reasons to come to Paris very determined," said Stade Francais coach Gonzalo Quesada.

"I think there are a lot of things we need to analyse," he added, after a second defeat following last weekend's loss at Brive.

"It's not a catastrophe, we're playing with what we have and know that preparations won't be ideal for next Saturday (against Montpellier) either."

Toulon are eighth, with Montpellier fourth after their second win which followed two tries from Marvin O'Connor and Timoci Nagusa, with Benoit Paillague accounting for 14 of his side's points.

- Perfect Clermont -

Clermont maintained their perfect start on Saturday as they ran in five tries, including a superb one by former All Black star Hosea Gear, to record a 41-24 win away at Oyonnax.
The visitors claimed their third bonus-point win in as many games when Alivereti Raka went over in the final move of the match in the 84th minute.

Clermont top the table by three points from Toulouse who also made it three wins from three games -- although none have been with a bonus point -- as they eased to a 37-20 win over Castres, former England fly-half Toby Flood scoring 20 of the victors' points including a try.

Racing 92, who were the only other unbeaten side going into the weekend, slipped up badly, losing 30-18 to newboys Agen, for whom it was their first win of the season.

Last season's second-tier champions Pau look set for a long hard season as they were thrashed 41-15 away at Grenoble.
Source: AFP