Bayonne scored one of the Champions Cup’s great tries as they earned their first-ever victory in the competition with a 40-17 triumph over Exeter Chiefs.
The Frenchmen put together a stunning attack, which went through several pairs of hands, for Victor Hannoun to cross the whitewash.
That secured the try bonus-point – following on from scores by Tom Spring, Konstantin Mikautadze and Aurelien Callandret – to put them 26-7 in front at the break.
It set them on their way to an impressive win, despite the briefly threatening a comeback through Dafydd Jenkins and Rusi Tuima.
They would refind their composure and rounded off an excellent evening when replacement Federico Mori scored a brace.
Bayonne had already been eliminated following Munster’s bonus-point on Saturday, but they wanted to end their campaign on a high.
The hosts certainly did that, playing at a pace that Exeter simply failed to deal with, especially in the first half. Sireli Maqala was particularly impressive and it was the Fijian centre’s off-load that allowed Spring to cross the whitewash in the first minute.
Although the Chiefs hit back through Dan Frost after some brilliant work by scrum-half Tom Cairns, they were back under pressure when Mikautadze touched down.
The French outfit were putting their opponents under significant pressure and that led to a cynical infringement from visiting centre Ollie Devoto.
With Devoto off the field, Bayonne scored again as Callandret crossed the whitewash before they put together arguably the move of the Champions Cup pool stages.
Starting inside their own half, they broke down the right before moving towards the left with the ball going through several pairs of hands. Eventually, it found its way out to Hannoun for a truly incredible score.
At 26-7 down, the Chiefs had a lot of work to do in the second period, but there was far more intent after the break and it yielded two quick-fire tries.
Firstly, new Wales captain Jenkins went over before Tuima followed him to get them back into the contest with 35 minutes remaining.
They were also helped by yellow cards for Thomas Dolhagaray and Callandret but, to the hosts’ immense credit, they stemmed the bleeding and got back on the front foot.
Their physicality proved too much for Exeter and Mori effectively sealed the victory after going over from close range.
A few minutes later, Jenkins found himself in the sin-bin for a high tackle and Mori completed his brace.
It was a dreadful evening for Exeter but their passage into the last-16 was already assured, where they will face fellow Premiership side Bath at home.
Bayonne: 15 Tom Spring, 14 Aurélien Callandret, 13 Sireli Maqala, 12 Yan Lestrade, 11 Victor Hannoun, 10 Thomas Dolhagaray, 9 Guillaume Rouet, 8 Rodrigo Bruni, 7 Baptiste Heguy, 6 Pierre Huguet, 5 Kote Mikautadze, 4 Denis Marchois (c), 3 Junior Tagi, 2 Vincent Giudicelli, 1 Matis Perchaud
Replacements: 16 Facundo Bosch, 17 Swan Cormenier, 18 Martin Villar, 19 Manuel Leindekar, 20 Manex Ariceta, 21 Kleo Labarbe, 22 Federico Mori, 23 Bastien Pourailly
Exeter Chiefs: 15 Josh Hodge, 14 Ben Hammersley, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Ollie Devoto, 11 Olly Woodburn, 10 Harvey Skinner, 9 Tom Cairns, 8 Greg Fisilau, 7 Jacques Vermeulen, 6 Ethan Roots, 5 Dafydd Jenkins (c), 4 Rusi Tuima, 3 Ehren Painter, 2 Dan Frost, 1 Alec Hepburn
Replacements: 16 Jack Yeandle, 17 Danny Southworth, 18 Josh Iosefa-Scott, 19 Lewis Pearson, 20 Ross Vintcent, 21 Stu Townsend, 22 Joe Hawkins, 23 Zack Wimbush
Referee: Nika Amashukeli (Geo)
Assistant Referees: Saba Abulashvili (Geo), Shota Tevzadze (Geo)
TMO: Ben Whitehouse (Wal)
