There were Challenge Cup wins for Northampton Saints, La Rochelle and Agen over the Dragons, Benetton Rugby and Enisei-STM respectively on Friday.
POOL 1
Northampton had too much firepower for the Dragons at Rodney Parade and the visitors eventually claimed a deserved 35-21 victory.
The Premiership side dominated for large periods and held a 19-0 lead at half-time thanks to tries from David Ribbans and Alex Mitchell, which were both converted by Dan Biggar, and the Saints were also awarded a penalty try late in the half.
The Dragons opened the scoring in the second half via an Elliot Dee try which was converted by Josh Lewis but Northampton continued to dominate and struck back via another Ribbans five-pointer five minutes later.
The Welsh region continued to attack and were rewarded with a Jarryd Sage try before Cobus Reinach dotted down for Saints, although the Dragons finished stronger and were awarded a penalty try in injury time.
POOL 4
La Rochelle continued with their superb form in the competition when they thrashed Enisei-STM 64-26 in a one-sided match at Stade Marcel Deflandre.
The Top 14 outfit were full value for their win and outscored their visitors by 10 tries to four. Romaric Camou led the way for La Rochelle with a brace of tries and their other five-pointers were scored by Paul Jordaan, Jone Qovu Nailiko, Brieuc Plessis-Couillaud, Kevin Gourdon, Thomas Berjon, Jean Charles Orioli, Mohamed Boughanmi and Gregory Alldritt.
Maxime Lafage finished with a 12-point haul courtesy of six conversions and Ihaia West also succeeded with one kick off the tee.
For Enisei-STM, Uldis Saulite scored two tries and Alexey Shcherban and Sergey Sekisov also dotted down. Yury Kushnarev added three conversions.
POOL 5
Agen were made to work hard before claiming a narrow 20-19 victory over Benetton Rugby at Stade Armandie.
The Italian side made the brighter start and raced into a 12-0 lead thanks to two tries from Luca Bigi and a Tomasso Allan conversion.
Antoine Miquel then crossed the whitewash for Agen and Jake McIntyre slotted the resulting conversion and a penalty which meant Benetton held a slender 12-10 lead at half-time.
The visitors struck back with a Iliesa Ratuva try, which was converted by Allan, but Agen finished stronger and a penalty from McIntyre as well as a conversion from him – after Yoan Tanga’s try – sealed the French side’s win.