Five-try Clermont pile on Perpignan misery

Clermont clinched their seventh win in eight matches to go top of the French Top 14 on Friday with a bonus-point 39-3 rout of Perpignan who have now suffered three successive defeats. Jerome Porical had kicked the Catalans into a 3-0 lead in the seventh minute, but it was all downhill from there for Perpignan. In their last two matches, Perpignan have conceded 70 points and shipped nine tries with just three points -- courtesy of Porical's penalty on Friday -- to show for their efforts. Clermont ran in five tries through full-back Jean-Marcellin Buttin, Scottish lock Nathan Hines, Fiji winger Kini Murimurivalu, flanker Alexandre Lapandry and the team's other Fijian flier Noa Nakaitaci. Perpignan president Paul Goze admitted his club was suffering. "It's a huge disappointment. Personally speaking, it's the toughest period I have ever spent as president, for the players also. "But it's at times like these that we have to stand together. We have played eight games but there are another 18 to play. The situation is difficult, but it's not desperate."