The following from News24
"Gio Aplon, Charl McLeod, Johan Goosen and Peter Grant were amongst the South African's make their Top 14 debuts over the weekend as the new French domestic season kicked off.
Toulon, Racing Metro and Stade Français were the big winners of Round One as they claimed precious victories on the road.
It was a great weekend for the Parisian clubs. While Racing needed a bit of luck to get past Montpellier, Stade Français conquered Castres' normally impenetrable fortress.
Johan Goosen and Robert Ebersohn played key roles as Racing-Métro broke the hearts of 14-man Montpellier with a narrow 19-16 victory in a thrilling encounter.
Montpellier looked dead and buried at the break, trailing 7-3 and having lost hooker Charles Geli to a red card for his involvement in a punch-up. But Fabien Galthié's side fought back, and even led with ten minutes remaining after Ebersohn - picked ahead of Wynand Olivier - showed quick feet to beat two men before feeding the ball to Timoci Nagusa who sprinted over.
However, two late Jonathan Sexton penalties gave Racing the win. The result wasn't without controversy as a Racing debutant Goosen’s drop-goal from distance - which seemed to dip under the crossbar - on 52 minutes proved key. Referee Salim Attalah wanted to check with the TMO whether the ball had gone over and after a few replays, amazingly he gave it the green light.
Castres - the losing finalists last season - left Rory Kockott on the bench as the started their season in the worst possible fashion. Meyer Bosman and Heinke van der Merwe started for Stade Français as the inflicted Castres’ first home Top 14 defeat (22-25) for more than a season thanks to full-back Djibril Camara's late try.
Former Stormers full-back Gio Aplon finished with stitches in his face as he made his debut for Grenoble in arguably the most entertaining game of the weekend with the minnows coming close to upsetting Clermont in a five-try, ding-dong battle. Charl McLeod was excellent at scrum-half for Grenoble but star-studded Clermont, who featured Zac Guildford on the wing, eventually came out on top, winning 30-26 at home.
The reigning French and European champions Toulon got the defence of their Top 14 title underway in style with a 29-15 win at Bayonne as Matt Giteau kicked 16 points.
With Bakkies Botha and Juan Smith away with the Springboks, Gerhard Vosloo, who was recruited from Clermont in the offseason, flew the South African flag, as he made his Toulon debut on the flank.
Toulon were made to work hard in the first half, going in level at the break, but Mathieu Bastareaud and David Smith went over in the second half although they missed out on a bonus point.
Elsewhere, Pedrie Wannenburg and Riaan Smit played their first game for Oyonnax, who came within minutes of a famous victory before eventually losing by a single point away at Jano Vermaak's Toulouse. Former England fly-half Toby Flood scored all of Toulouse's points, including a try as they edged it 20-19.
Meanwhile, Brive were they only side to claim a try bonus-point the opening weekend and sit top of the standings after having thrashed La Rochelle, for whom Peter Grant made his Top 14 debut at full-back."
There are two issues here:=
Goosen and Ebersohn layed a key role for Racing Metro and the two will continue to play key roles.
Stade Francais was lucky - Morne Steyn was not there to bugger things up for them.
