However, it had been a battle of the boots in the first period with Kristopher Burton outgunning Luke McAlister 6-3 in successful penalty goals, All Black ace McAlister missing a chance in injury time to cut Treviso's nine-point advantage before the break.

On top of that, Toulouse's frustrations led to hooker Christopher Tolofua being yellow carded and the four-times champions had to sacrifice No8 powerhouse Louis Picamoles during the sin binning to bring on Gary Botha at scrum time.

It took 53 minutes for the first try and, although it came in the shape of a penalty try awarded by Welsh referee Leighton Hodges, it was the first of a rush of three Toulouse scores in the space of just 10 minutes as they took the game out of Treviso's reach.

The impressive Picamoles crossed the home line before Clerc got that record stretching 33rd try to add Treviso's scalp to that of Leicester Tigers and put Toulouse in pole position in the group, even though they finished a man short when Tolofua was red carded in the 76th minute.