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| - Australia hooker Tolu Latu crossed for a third time in as many games as Stade Francais hammered Toulouse 48-14 in the French Top 14 on Sunday. Lotu, who last featured for the Wallabies at the 2019 World Cup, was one of six scorers as the Parisians avoided their third straight home defeat of the season to move up to fifth. The visitors drop to third with their second successive defeat so far this term in a fixture known as French rugby's "Classico" with the 14-time league winners welcoming the record 20-time champions. France centre Gael Fickou, who featured in Saturday's Six Nations win over Ireland, and Argentina trio Nicolas Sanchez, Pablo Matera and Marcos Kremer were missing for Gonzalo Quesada's hosts due to their international call-ups. The away side's head coach Ugo Mola was forced to hand 19-year-old scrum-half Theo Idjellidaine his first league start as he was without seven players on Test duty including regular No. 9 Antoine Dupont. After a blitzing opening quarter the home outfit led 21-0 with Julien Delbouis, Arthur Coville and Jonathan Danty all scoring. Winger Matthis Lebel replied two minutes later after a sublime offload from back-rower Selevasio Tolofua before Latu's converted try by Joris Segonds re-established a comfortable 12-point advantage at the break. Quesada's men continued to dominate after the interval as Segonds kicked two penalties and Paul Gabrillagues, who played for Les Bleus at the World Cup, crossed from a driving maul. Their own young scrum half, 21-year-old William Percillier crossed for a sixth try with the former Canada under-20 international's first touch in senior rugby with five minutes to play. Former New Zealand prop Charlie Faumuinia claimed a late consolation for the title holders 70 seconds after the clock turned red. Earlier, Former South Africa under-20 back-rower Wiaan Liebenberg opened his account for the season but La Rochelle failed to move to the summit of the table despite a 35-24 win at Pau. The visitors missed out on the chance to leap-frog leaders Clermont as they left Stade du Hameau without a bonus point. Earlier, Agen sacked coach Christophe Laussucq after Saturday's 71-5 defeat at Bordeaux-Begles described by club president Jean-Francois Fonteneau as "intolerable". Also on Saturday Lotu's former Australia team-mate Kurtley Beale scored his first Racing 92 try in the 28-26 loss at Castres. iwd/dj
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