Top 14: La Rochelle continue good form as Ronan O'Gara's side win third on the trot

After a poor start to the season, Ronan O’Gara’s side are now in the top six for the first time this term after beating Toulon 39-6

After a poor start to the season, Ronan O’Gara’s side are now in the top six for the first time this term after beating Toulon 39-6

Ronan O’Gara’s La Rochelle picked up their third Top 14 win in a row on Sunday night to continue their climb up the table before their French internationals head to Paris for a training camp ahead of the November Tests.

After a poor start to the season, O’Gara’s side are now in the top six for the first time this term after beating Toulon 39-6 at Stade Marcel Deflandre, thanks to two tries from returning fly-half Ihaia West, and scores from Uini Atonio, Will Skelton and Jules Favre.

The defeat piles even more pressure on under-fire Toulon coach Patrice Collazo, after his side slipped down to 13th this weekend.

Twenty-four hours earlier, a magistral Toulouse hammered near-neighbours Castres 41-0 at Stade Ernest Wallon.

French international duo Antoine Dupont and Romain Ntamack were the architects of just about everything good that the hosts did in attack as they ran in five tries in an hour before relaxing in the final quarter.

Ntamack’s rival for the France 10 shirt, Matthieu Jalibert, earlier pulled the strings for nearly an hour as Bordeaux beat Perpignan 39-13 at Stade Chaban Delmas, running in five tries to record just their second bonus point of the season and drop the visitors to the bottom of the table.

With the South Africa’s November international tourists watching from the stands at La Defense Arena, Cobus Reinach and Handre Pollard - playing at 12, with Paolo Garbisi at 10 - impressed as Montpellier condemned Racing 92 to their first home defeat of the season. Reinach scored a 70m solo try as the visitors won 32-21.

Earlier, Lyon’s Lima Sopoaga learned the hard way that the one-minute penalty rule is strictly enforced in the Top 14, as last week’s conquerors of Toulouse lost 23-18 at Stade Francais.

Biarritz, meanwhile, made the most of a yellow card for Brive captain Said Hireche 12 minutes from time, to put what had been a tight encounter beyond doubt at Parc des Sports Aguilera. The Basque side scored three unanswered tries in the 10 minutes Hireche was off the field to record their third win of the season 37-9.

Clermont scrum-half Morgan Parra’s record-breaking run of successful kicks at goal ended on 48, as the Jaunards picked up a 42-20 win over Pau at Stade Marcel Michelin to record their second bonus point of the season - their first came in the 34-30 home defeat to Castres in the second round of the competition.