15 August 2009: Brive go top with bonus-point win, Castres shock Biarritz, Toulouse's great escape, Clermont's try burst, Bayonne's Dourthe fumes and Racing win battle of the new boys

Brive 30 Montpellier 19; Biarritz 12 Castres 24; Montauban 16 Toulouse 17; Bourgoin 28 Clermont 37; Perpignan 28 Bayonne 20; Albi 13 Racing-Metro 19

Brive ended the first weekend of Top 14 action by going straight to the top of the table with a three-try, 30-9 win over a poor Montpellier in the evening game. Steve Thompson scored Brive's first try, following up a 50-metre run by full-back Alexis Palisson to power over and help Brive to a 16-9 half-time lead. That was extended to 23-9 by Vincent Forgues's 40-metre dash to the tryline, and just as it seemed that would be the final score, fly-half Luciano Orquera adding to his three penalties and two conversions by breaking the Montpellier defence wide open and dashing over for a bonus-point-earning try that he also converted.

A pair of tries for winger Marc Andreu helped Castres to a shock 24-12 win over Biarritz at Stade Aguilera. Andreu's touchdowns bookended the game, his first on three minutes as he gathered loose ball and hurtled down the touchline to score, his second sealing the victory and coming after the Castres pack had won a scrum against the head and caught the Biarritz backs flat footed. Cameron McIntyre kicked four penalties for the visitors, while Valentin Courrent and Julien Peyrelongue kicked two penalties each for the Basques.

Castres' claim to the result of the day would have counted for nothing had Montauban held on for another minute against Toulouse. As it was, Jean-Baptiste Elissalde's 80th-minute conversion of Patricio Albacete's touchline try gave the visitors a lucky 17-16 victory in a real ding-dong encounter. It was redemption for Elissalde, whose try-line fumble had allowed Moroccan flanker Abdi Boutaty to give the green-and-blacks a 16-10 lead with a try on 69 minutes. Yves Donguy had put Toulouse ahead with a try set up by Yann David's 30-metre break on 56 minutes; Cedric Rosalen had kicked two penalties and a drop for Montauban after Freddie Michalak opened the scoring with a 16th-minute penalty. The day didn't get any better for Montauban when they were told that the French League's financial rottweilers, the DNACG, had withheld the licences of six of the club's players until they can guarantee their pre-season budget statements.

Bourgoin's own preparations for the arrival of local-ish rivals Clermont wasn't helped when the DNACG revoked the licenses of all 16 of the club's new signings until they can prove they can afford their €10.2m budget. So they must have been pleasantly surprise to be leading Clermont 23-16 on the hour. But three tries in seven minutes for the perennial vice-champions from Napolioni Nalaga, Wesley Fofana and Anthony Floch burst Bourgoin's bubble and even handed the visitors a temporary bonus point until Berjaillen winger Franck Romanet scored his team's second try. The match had opened with a pair of early tries, Rudi Coetzee giving Bourgoin a fourth-minute lead before Nalaga burst through to open Clermont's account. 2008/09 top points scorer Brock James added 19 points with the boot, Benjamin Boyet kicking 13 for the home side. The final score: Bourgoin 28 Clermont 37.

Bayonne's Richard Dourthe was fuming after his side let slip a famous win at Perpignan. The champions came away 28-20 victors, but the Basques' say-what-you-see coach claimed to have presented the win to the Catalans. "We handed USAP six or nine points and wasted 12 ourselves thanks to our inefficient kicking," he said. "The score should have been in our favour, but we made too many unforgivable errors. That's what we've got to work on, and believe me, we going to work." Bayonne outscored their hosts by two tries to one, South African winger Sam Gerber and kiwi flanker Ross Filipo scoring one in each half. Full-back Armand Battle scored USAP's only try on 20 minutes, with the rest of the Catalans' points coming from the boots of David Mélé (17pts) and Nicolas Laharrague, who kicked a penalty and an 80th minute drop goal that denied the visitors a bonus point.

Racing-Metro celebrated their rise to the Top 14 with a 19-13 win at fellow promotees Albi. English fullback Dan Scarborough scored the Parisian's first top-flight try for 13 years on 19 minutes, following up as Mani Vakaola is brought down two metres short of the line to take the Tongan winger's flick-pass and score. A tasty bagarre on 15 minutes had seen Racing prop Andrea Lo Cicero handed a yellow card, and Blair Stewart's penalties kept Albi in touch, before a 50th minute try for full-back Benjamin Lapeyre - who capitalised on a Scarborough error to tie the scores at 13-all. But a penalty for Jonathan Wisniewski (his third) and a last-minute drop goal for new Racing recruit Fabien Fortassin sealed the win for the Pierre Berbizier's visitors.