ACC, r1: Bayonne beat Harlequins to make it six wins from seven for French clubs

Tries from South African duo Joe Pietersen and Sam Gerber helped secure Bayonne a 16-12 home win against Harlequins in pool 1on Sunday, capping an excellent opening weekend for French clubs in the Amlin Challenge Cup.

Six of the country's seven entrants were victorious in Round 1, with only Bourgoin going down - and even they won't be too unhappy after picking up a defensive bonus away to Newcastle Falcons in Pool 3.

Bayonne were forced to come from 8-12 down at half time at home to Harlequins after four Nick Evans penalties put the visitors ahead at the break. Evans succeeded with efforts in the 3rd, 12th, 18th and 26th minutes, but Bayonne stayed in touch thanks to Pietersen's eighth-minute try and Benjamin Boyet's late penalty - when they were down to 14 men after Lionel Mazars was yellow carded.

The Basques regained the lead three minutes after the restart when Gerber touched down for their second try of the afternoon, with Cédric Garcia sealing the win on 67 minutes when he kicked a penalty after Chris Robshaw had been sent to the sin-bin.

Bayonne's Sunday win followed encouraging away wins on Saturday for a much-changed Montpellier (13-20 winners at Exeter Chiefs) and Top 14 strugglers La Rochelle (3-38 at Rugby Rovigo).

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Montpellier, who have opted to omit French internationals Francois Trinh-Duc and Fulgence Ouedraogo from this competition, opened brightly at Exeter and were 6-13 ahead at the interval after winger Dimitri Pelo's 15th-minute try and eight points from the boot of fly-half Raphael Lagarde.

Any doubts about the result were then dispelled when Fijian centre Seta Tuilevuka went over for their second try just two minutes after the restart.

The Chiefs - who were making their European debut -  battled hard to get back into the match after that, with Montpellier twice going down to 14 men after yellows for Johan Wasserman (65th min) and Santiago Fernandez (74th min). The home side did eventually manage a try of their own late on when Chad Slade went over with 12 minutes late, but Montpol held out to open with a satisfying away win in Pool 3.

La Rochelle won even more convincingly as they ended a run of six successive defeats with a 3-38 win at Rugby Rovigo in Pool 5.

'The Maritimers' brushed off their Top 14 worries with a six-try drubbing that sets them up nicely for next weekend's home clash with fellow French side SU Agen.

Florian Ninard and Quentin D'Aram de Valada both went over in the first half, along with a penalty try for the visitors, before Benjamin Ferrou, Guillaume Devade and Franco Pani added second half scores for the French team.

They now face fellow Top 14 newcomers SU Agen on Saturday, with last season's ProD2 champions also arriving in buoyant mood after they recorded a morale-boosting last-gasp home win over Gloucester in the Amlin Challenge Cup on Friday night.

Tongan number eight Opeti Fonua was Agen's hero as he bundled over for both of their tries, including the controversial late winner in the final minute. Gloucester, who thought they had done enough to earn a draw, were left fuming after Scottish ref Neil Patterson awarded the try despite Fonua appearing to lose control of the ball as he crossed the line.

Valentin Courrent kicked the subsequent conversion as Agen completed a superb comeback from having been 3-13 down after 23 minutes.

two Nicky Robinson penalties set Gloucester on their way, with Scott Lawson then adding a try as the Aviva Premiership side looked set to be cruising to a comfortable away win.

But Agen belied their current lowly status in Top 14 - where they are rooted to the bottom after just one win in nine games - and started their recovery when Courrent kicked his second penalty of the evening nine minutes into the second half. Six minutes later he added a conversion after the first of Opeti's two tries left it 13-13.

Courrent and Robinson then kicked two more penalties each before Agen won it at the death while Gloucester were down to 14 due to Mike Tindall's 74th-minute yellow card.

Elsewhere on Friday, Brive opened their Pool 2 campaign with a hard-fought 32-6 home win against Petrarca Rugby.

Julien Caminati and Tim Walsh hit an early penalty each before Brive winger Mathias Atayi touched down for the game's opening try after 13 minutes. A Walsh drop-goal pegged the hosts back soon after and then Brive lost prop Vasil Kakovin for 10 minutes just before the interval as Petrarca provided stern resistance.

Caminati was on target again for the hosts five minutes after the restart, and the 24-year-old then added his own converted try just before the hour mark as Brive made the decisive break. It remained 18-6 until five minutes from time before Brive took advantage of a numerical advantage - following Michele Sutto's yellow card - with two more late tries.

First over was Régis Lespinas, quickly followed by replacement Viliame Waqaseduadua, with Caminati adding both conversions to finish with a match haul of 17 points. Brive's late surge also earned them the attacking bonus, which come in handy later on considering that Sale Sharks walloped El Salvador 97-11 in Pool 2's other Friday night match.

Stade Francais ran in nine tries as they crushed Italian side Crociati RFC 57-6 at the Stade Charléty on Thursday evening.

The Paris outfit recovered from Marco Anversa's first-minute penalty for the visitors to open up a 26-3 lead by half-time in their opening Pool 4 match.

Nineteen-year-old fly-half Jules Plisson was first to cross the line for Stade (in the seventh minute), 20-year-old number eight Hugues Briatta following soon after as Michael Cheika's young bucks grabbed their chance to shine.

Argentine international Martin Rodriguez Gurruchaga - who was playing on the wing - touched down for the first of his two tries on the night in the 27th minute, with Scottish full-back Hugo Southwell also going over before the interval.

The one-way traffic continued in the second half with Guillaume Boussés, Ollie Phillips and Brian Liebenberg all getting on the scoresheet to complete the back-line's full house, while Gurruchaga doubled up and replacement scrum-half Benjamin Tardy completed the rout.

Noel Oelschig, the starting scrum-half, kicked six of his nine conversion attempts as Stade sailed past the 50-point mark to safely pocket the attacking bonus.

Cheika rang the changes in the second half, with 20-year-old English lock Dan Wright making his first-team debut for Stade when he replaced Tom Palmer after 56 minutes.

Crociati at least departed with the knowledge they had led Stade at one point - albeit for just six minutes - while their second-half score came from a Tommaso Iannone penalty.

In the evening's other match Top 14 strugglers Bourgoin did enough to earn a potentially crucial defensive bonus as they went down 22-16 away to Newcastle Falcons in Pool 3.

Fly-half Sébastien Laloo kicked two early penalties for the visitors in reply to Jeremy Manning's fifth-minute try, but Newcastle led 12-6 at the break after Joe Graham touched down for a converted score on 24 minutes.

Manning and Laloo then added a penalty each after the break before Luke Fielden's converted try on 62 minutes put Newcastle 22-9 up.

But Bourgoin refused to give up and scored a deserved try of their own late on when replacement scrum-half Jérémy Gondrand went over 10 minutes from time - with Laloo adding the conversion - and could even have nicked it at the death but for some stout defence from the Falcons.

The eventual 22-16 scoreline did earn them the defensive bonus, however, and Eric Catinot's side will be looking to build on that next weekend when they entertain Aviva Premiership newcomers Exeter Chiefs at the Stade Pierre Rajon.