European Rugby Challenge Cup review: London Irish smash Rovigo thanks to Topsy Ojo hat-trick

Straight forward opening win for the Premiership side

Stefan Basson of Rovigo fails to stop Topsy Ojo of London Irish from scoring a try (GETTY IMAGES)

Topsy Ojo scored a first-half hat-trick of tries as London Irish got their European Rugby Challenge Cup campaign off to a barnstorming start with a 70-14 mauling of Rovigo at the Madejski Stadium.

Irish came into their Pool One opener on the back of successive Aviva Premiership defeats to Northampton and Exeter but there was never any danger of another setback on Sunday as they ran in 10 tries against outclassed Rovigo.,

Four of those came in the opening 40 minutes, with three of them being notched by former England wing Ojo, who opened the floodgates in the fifth minute before adding further scores in 30th and 37th minutes.

Fly-half Myles Dorrian also crossed in the first half as well as adding the extras for each of Ojo's tries as the Exiles - who scored 18 tries in their opening two matches of last season's European Challenge Cup - went into the break boasting a 28-0 lead and with a bonus point already in the bag. Dorrian would end the match with a 25-point haul after successfully converting all 10 tries.

Centre Eoin Griffin, making his Exiles debut, needed less than a minute of the second half to increase his side's lead before Rovigo finally got some points on the board when New Zealander Luke Mahoney scored a try that was converted by Stefan Basson.

That was a rare moment of joy for the Italian visitors, though, as Irish resumed their assault on the Rovigo tryline and they crossed five more times through Leo Halavatau, Kieran Low, Tom Guest, Dan Leo and James Short - after returning from a yellow card - as they powered towards a resounding victory.

Dorrian continued his perfect afternoon with the boot by converting each of those tries, before Rovigo gained some scant consolation at the end of a sorry afternoon when they notched a second try through Andrea De Marchi right at the end.

The victory leaves Irish at the top of Pool One with five points, just ahead of Cardiff Blues, with Rovigo and Grenoble still looking to get off the mark.

Elsewhere, Toulouse won a closely-fought Champions Cup encounter against Montpellier 30-23 at the Stade Ernest-Wallon on Sunday.

Tries from Yohan Huget (two) and Jean-Marc Doussain helped to secure victory for Toulouse, who face Bath at the Recreation Ground next Saturday in their second match of the competition.

Toulouse fly-half Luke McAllister missed a penalty two minutes into the match but was on target from the tee nine minutes later to level after a Teddy Iribaren penalty had put Montpellier in front in the eighth minute.

Montpellier winger Samisoni Viriviri had an impressive running try disallowed shortly after the half-hour mark, but the visitors did get the opening try moments later.

Winger Timoci Nagusa strolled over unopposed down the blindside after a strong Montpellier scrum had left the Toulouse defence in tatters.

Scum-half Iribaren added the conversion to make it 10-3 but Toulouse hit back immediately with a second McAllister penalty before they took the lead when Huget beat Viriviri to a grubber kick and dotted down. McAllister added the extras to give Toulouse a 13-10 lead at half-time.

Iribaren was sin-binned 10 minutes into the second half for a professional foul but despite being down to 14 men Montpellier reclaimed the lead when centre Wynand Olivier touched down in the left corner.

Enzo Selponi, assuming the kicking duties in Iribaren's absence, nailed a difficult conversion to make the score 17-13.

Their lead lasted just 60 seconds as Huget collected McAllister's crossfield kick to cross for his second try of the game and Toby Flood, on for Florian Fritz, added the extras as Toulouse went into a 20-17 lead.

Toulouse then found themselves a man down when replacement tighthead prop Census Johnston received a yellow card for taking out Nagusa.

Iribaren returned to the action and drew Montpellier level with a 63rd-minute penalty but Toulouse led 27-20 when Flood converted Doussain's 66th-minute try, and the former Leicester man then stretched his side's lead to 10 points by kicking a 79th-minute penalty.

Replacement fly-half Benoit Paillaugue booted a penalty in the final minute to earn a losing bonus point for Montpellier, but they ran out of time to get anything else from the match.

PA