Two-test All Blacks lock Dominic Bird crashed over for a try in as his French club Racing 92 beat Ireland’s Connacht in the European Champions Cup.
The 29-year-old second rower dotted down from a driving maul after halftime to secure a bonus point in a 26-22 win on Sunday (Monday NZ time).
Wallabies star Kurtley Beale scored his first European competition try for Racing, and tighthead prop Georges-Henri Colombe and wing Donovan Taofifuena (with an acrobatic dive in the corner) also scored for the Paris side.
Racing were Champions Cup finalists last season, losing to the Exeter Chiefs, who emphasised their championship credentials with a thumping 42-0 win over the Glasgow Warriors.
Former Glasgow players Stuart Hogg and Johnny Gray were in the Exeter side, with Hogg scoring a try against his former teammates.
“The crowd was unbelievable,” the Scotland test captain told BBC Radio 5 Live. “There were only 2000 in here today and it felt at times as if there were 20,000.
“The Chiefs fans are rugby daft – they absolutely love it. It gives us that added energy we need and it pushed us through at vital times.
“It was exactly what we were after and now our focus turns to Toulouse next week.”
Lyon were also bigger winners, thumping a young Gloucester team with eight European debutants, 55-10. Xavier Mignon grabbed a hat-trick and former French test midfielder Mathieu Bastareaud, now employing his burly frame at No 8, also got on the scoresheet.
Another European rookie, Munster flanker Gavin Coombes, had a try-scoring debut in a 21-7 victory over English club Harlequins.
French international Jérémy Sinzelle and Raymond Rhule were La Rochelle’s try scorers in their 13-8 victory at Edinburgh.
La Rochelle fielded former All Blacks halfback Tawera Kerr-Barlow and Timaru-born French test tighthead prop Uini Atoinio, while former Blues and Hurricanes first five-eighth Ihaia West came off the bench to control proceedings in the second half.
