Donnacha Ryan finally tasted victory in a Racing 92 shirt as the Top 14 giants boosted their Champions Cup hosts with a 29-7 bonus-point victory against over Castres Olympique.
Racing have lost the two games the Irishman has been involved in since his long-awaited debut following struggles with a neck injury, but they produced the goods at the Stade Yves Du Manoir on Saturday.
Tries from Leone Nakarawa, Dimitri Szarewski, Virimi Vakatawa and Louis Dupichot did the damage to open up Pool 4.
Ryan will come face to face with his old team Munster in the new year.
Paddy Butler's Pau strengthened their grip at the top of Pool 3 in the Challenge Cup with a bonus-point win against Agen.
Having hammered the same opponents 40-21 on their own patch last week, they did the same on home soil and look nailed on for progression.
Back-row Butler (pictured above centre) went to the bin for a 40th-minute yellow which disrupted his team's momentum and let Agen back into it for a period.
Lucas Rey and Benson Stanley crossed the whitewash in the first half, but it took Sean Dougall and Laurent Bouchet tries on the turnaround to kill off the visitors and claim the bonus.
Dave Foley started on the bench for Pau but replaced Masalosalo Tutaia on 50 minutes.
Rain ✔️
— Worcester Warriors 🏉 (@WorcsWarriors) December 15, 2017
Snow ✔️
Hail ✔️
We've had it all in an hour here in Oyonnax! 🏔️ pic.twitter.com/5xGp66UCTZ
Neither Donncha O’Callaghan or Peter Stringer featured in Worcester Warriors' 27-20 loss to Oyannax in the Challenge Cup.
Warriors dug deep to escape with a losing bonus in a snow-covered Stade Charles-Mathon.
Connacht are in control of Pool 5 but O'Callaghan and Co are second and the bonus could prove crucial to their hopes of progression to the knockout stages in the new year.
They've certainly put in a big shift today in tough conditions against formidable opponents! pic.twitter.com/t9KEu5Mnyi
— Wasps (@WaspsRugby) December 17, 2017
Marty Moore started in Wasps' comprehensive 21-3 Champions Cup defeat of La Rochelle.
The prop, who will join Ulster in the summer, was replaced by Jake Cooper-Woolley on 54 minutes.
Elliot Daly led the way as the hosts outfit avenged their 49-29 hammering in France last weekend.
The Wasps pack shaded a titanic forward battle as La Rochelle failed to come to terms with the murky conditions until the final quarter and could only manage a solitary penalty from Brock James.
A late effort from Tom Cruse added to Daly's pair of tries, with Daly converting two and Danny Cipriani one.
