Two English clubs and two French sides head the race for qualification for the knockout stages of the European Rugby Challenge Cup after coming through the first two rounds with 100% records. ASM Clermont Auvergne and La Rochelle have already passed 100 points in respectively topping Pools 1 and 4, while Worcester Warriors and Sale Sharks lead Pools 2 and 3. Sale’s 34-13 home victory over Connacht Rugby on Saturday arguably produced the story of the weekend, with wing Chris Ashton marking his competitive debut for the English club with a hat-trick of tries. Scrum-half Faf de Klerk also starred with 14 points from the tee. https://twitter.com/SaleSharksRugby/status/1053683624191672327 In contrast, Worcester’s 27-21 home victory over Ospreys was a tight affair, with Jamie Shillcock kicking a late penalty in a 17-point display to end a fine fightback by the Welsh province from 21-0 down at the break. Meanwhile, Clermont and La Rochelle enjoyed their second successive points sprees in the competition, with the former overpowering Timisoara Saracens 70-12 at the Stade Marcel-Michelin on Saturday and the latter completing a quickfire double over Enisei-STM with their 64-26 home success on Friday. La Rochelle crossed the whitewash 10 times at the Stade Marcel Deflandre, where Uldis Saulite recorded a memorable try treble for the Russian visitors, who had lost 21-82 at home to the TOP 14 team in Round 1. There were also 10 tries for Clermont, with Setariki Tuicuvu and Apisai Naqalevu getting three apiece, and all 10 were converted by Pato Fernandez. https://twitter.com/ERChallengeCup/status/1053756899085160449 The tightest group is Pool 5, where Harlequins are the front runners on points difference by a single point from Benetton Rugby, with both Grenoble and Agen two points behind that pair on four. Both Quins and Benetton netted a losing bonus point, the former in a 19-13 defeat at Grenoble on Saturday and the latter in a 20-19 reversal at Agen on Friday. Round 2’s other matches brought opening 2018/19 Challenge Cup wins for Northampton Saints (35-21 at Dragons), Pau (21-15 at home to Stade Français Paris) and Zebre Rugby Club (20-17 at home to Bristol Bears), plus a 25-25 draw between Bordeaux-Bègles and Perpignan at the Stade Chaban Delmas.