Replays showed Siya Kolisi diving over for what would have been a try on his Top 14 debut just as Adrien Descottes turned away to go under the posts. Not that the South Africa captain – substituted in the 55th minute – would have minded much with a victory under his belt in his first match for his new club.

With the Rochelais down to 13, Antoine Gibert darted under the posts from close range in the 31st minute to take the score to 24-3.

It seemed over, but La Rochelle had their chances. They had an argument for a penalty try of their own shortly before halftime, after Juan Imhoff appeared to play the ball illegally preventing Judicael Cancoriet from scoring.

Yoann Tanga scored six minutes into the second period to reduce the deficit. Bourgarit knocked on diving to score in the 53rd minute, and Joel Sclavi was held up in the in-goal area in the 67th minute.

Then Racing had the final word. Fullback Henry Arundell raced in for the bonus-point try – his fourth in three outings – two minutes from time to send Stuart Lancaster’s side to the top of the table, one point above Pau.

Last Saturday’s loss at Perpignan prompted a spectacular coaching clear-out at bottom-of-the-table Montpellier. By Sunday afternoon, Richard Cockerill had left his post as manager just seven matches into his contract, hours after Mohed Altrad had appointed Bernard Laporte as rugby director.

Neil McIlroy, who took up a role as sporting director at the start of November, also cleared out his office, while head coach Jean-Baptiste Elissalde was moved into a new role away from day-to-day first team affairs. Only defence coach Benson Stanley survived the cull.

In their place, a hastily assembled four-strong coaching set-up gathered at the GGL Stadium on Monday, charged with turning round Montpellier’s season – Patrice Collazo, relieved of managerial duties at ProD2 side Brive days previously; former Soyaux-Angouleme boss Vincent Etcheto; ex-Carcassonne head coach Christian Labit; and Antoine Battut, once of Bayonne.

There were signs of improvement on Saturday, as Montpellier hosted promoted ProD2 champions Oyonnax. But the uptick in performance could not prevent the 2022 Top 14 champions falling to a seventh straight defeat, their worst run since returning to the French top flight in 2003.

Former Munster and Ireland centre Chris Farrell was among the scorers for the visitors, as they won 21-26, their first Top 14 away victory since March 2018 – and plunged Montpellier, by Laporte and Collazo’s individual admission, into full-on Top 14 survival mode.

Pau are reaping the benefits of a more patient approach to coaching and squad building, having signed former France age-grade manager Sebastian Piqueronies at the very end of the 2020-21 campaign. 

After two finishes in the lower-reaches of the league, his young side made relatively light work of beating Stade Francais 30-6 – and only lost top slot in the table in the dying minutes of the match between Racing 92 and La Rochelle.

Damian Penaud introduced himself to Bordeaux’s Stade Chaban Delmas faithful with four tries in his first 40 minutes on home soil, as Yannick Bru’s side raced into a five-try-to-one 34-5 first-half lead against Perpignan. Penaud now has 23 tries in 20 matches in 2023.

The hosts eased off a little in the second period, but still scored twice in the final 10 minutes to pick up a bonus-point 46-22 win.

Clermont coach Christophe Urios claimed his side were routinely ‘poorly refereed’ after watching them lose 31-10 to defending Top 14 champions Toulouse at Stade Ernest Wallon. “We finished 10th last season, we’re in reconstruction, so we are refereed like that,” he claimed.

Elsewhere, Lyon ended a three-match losing streak with a 42-29 win over Bayonne at Stade Gerland, while Toulon eased to a 41-19 win over an error-ridden and ill-disciplined Castres at Stade Mayol.