Northampton Saints were brought back down to earth after they suffered a 50-28 loss away to Investec Champions Cup holders Bordeaux Begles in a repeat of last season's final.
Saints had already secured a place in the round of 16 after two wins from two in the competition and despite a double by Henry Pollock, they lost for the first time in Europe this season.
Irresistible champions Bordeaux crossed over eight times in a scintillating display, but Northampton were able to leave with a bonus point after Danilo Fischetti touched down with two minutes left.
A ding-dong battle in a repeat of the 2025 showpiece appeared on the cards when Pollock instantly replied in the 10th minute to the first try by Bordeaux wing Salesi Rayasi.
Ill-discipline proved costly for Saints as a raft of first-half sin-bins meant it was 24-7 to Bordeaux at the interval and Rayasi completed his treble two minutes after the restart.
Cameron Woki joined Rayasi in scoring a hat-trick after he bundled over in the 50th minute, but the visitors showed character with England star Pollock able to add to a Tommy Freeman score late on before Fischetti clinched a losing bonus point to leave Northampton third in Pool 4.
Elsewhere, a rampant Harlequins returned to form in style by blowing away previously unbeaten Stormers 61-10 at the Twickenham Stoop to secure their place in the Champions Cup knockout stages with one group game remaining.
Stormers had won all their 10 competitive fixtures so far this season, two in this competition and eight in the United Rugby Championship, but left their first-choice team in Cape Town and paid the price with a desperately poor display.
Quins, with Marcus Smith and Tyrone Green pulling the strings, scored nine tries. Nick David touched down for three of them, with Jack Kenningham, Cadan Murley, Alex Dombrandt, Chandler Cunningham-South, Zach Carr and Jarrod Evans bagging the others. Smith converted eight.
Unconverted second-half tries from replacement Imad Khan and Dylan Maart were all Stormers could muster in response.
Munster, meanwhile, slipped to a second Champions Cup defeat after going down 27-25 away to Toulon in pool two.
Jack Crowley put Munster in front with two penalty kicks, but they were reduced to 14 men in the 36th minute when Tadhg Beirne was sent to the sin bin.
Toulon responded just before the break as Marius Domon crossed before converting his own effort to give them a one-point advantage at half-time.
Toulon were straight out of the blocks in the second half when Ben White touched down in the 43rd minute and Domon converted, but Munster responded three minutes later when a quick switch towards the right allowed Calvin Nash to ground in the corner and Crowley added the extras.
A chaotic start to the half continued as Gael Drean scored for Toulon in the 49th minute with a try under the posts and Domon converted, while Munster were frustrated further six minutes later when Alex Nankivell was shown a yellow card.
Esteban Abadie was then sin-binned for Toulon, who still extended their lead further with a Domon penalty. Jack O'Donoghue touched down for Munster after edging over the line, but Crowley missed the resulting conversion attempt.
Charles Ollivon saw yellow for the French side, allowing the visitors to capitalise as Tom Farrell went over and Crowley's conversion sent them ahead, but Domon's penalty with five minutes to play wrapped up the win for Toulon.
PA
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