Controversial Te’o finds it tough going in Top 14 debut

Axed England centre Ben Te’o was thrust straight into action for new club Toulon but it couldn’t stop the three-time European champions from crashing to a big away defeat against Bordeaux-Begles.

The former favourite of Eddie Jones is picking up his career in the south of France after being ditched from the Red Rose World Cup plans following an altercation with teammate Mike Brown at training.

Left in limbo after being released from his £370,000-per-year contract at Worcester Warriors, Te’o’s debut for Toulon lasted the full 80 minutes but offered little to cheer about.

Held tryless, BordeauxBegles had Matthieu Jalibert and Remi Lamerat firing on all cylinders, with the former claiming a hattrick of tries.

Going head-to-head with Louis Carbonel, Jalibert’s first-half try was complemented by hooker Adrien Pelissie who scored in the second-half while Lamerat ran the show.

Having upset the odds last week with a shock win over Racing 92 on their visit to Paris, Bayonne returned to home comforts and almost toppled Clermont Auvergne, only to let a half-time lead slip and fall to a 34-30 defeat.

A high penalty count was the home side’s Achilles heel as their three converted tries in the opening 40 minutes, courtesy of Maxime Lamothe, Peyo Muscarditz and

Romain Bathelemy, were offset by 12 points coming from the boot of Clermont’s Jake McIntyre.

A George Moala pick-and-go from the ruck produced Clermont’s first try of the half to leave the score 24-19 at the break.

Remy Grosso made an audacious inside pass from behind his back for Apisai Naqalevu to trigger the fightback with a try on 58 minutes. Scrum-half Charlie Cassang scored the match-winning try with ten minutes left.

Ronan O’Gara’s La Rochelle recorded their first win of the seasonbut only just as Stade Francais almost snaffled all five points but Jules Plisson missed an injury time conversion.

With five minutes remaining, centre Jonathan Danty scored a converted try for the Parisians and with the clock ticking towards the final play, Kylan Hamdaoui crossed out wide to heap the pressure on Plisson, a weight he couldn’t handle as he kicked wide.

Montpellier’s Aaron Cruden had suffered the same fate last week in their loss to Castres, but their return to home soil saw them power past Pau 43-22.

The match didn’t go without a hiccup for the hosts after try scorer Youri Delhommel gave his team the lead and then turned villain by receiving a red card on 27 minutes.

But that didn’t matter as the hosts saw the game out with second half tries for Anthony Bouthier, who scored twice, and Yvan Reilhac.