Clermont maintained top spot in the Top 14 with an irrepressible 38-7 win over Brive at the Parc des Sports Marcel Michelin on Friday.
The hosts were 31-0 ahead at the break after a magnificent first half, in which they ran in four tries.
Brock James opened the scoring with an early penalty, and the floodgates burst forth after a quarter of an hour, when Julien Bonnaire combined with scrum-half Arnaud Pic off the back of a scrum to set Aurelien Rougerie away.
Prolific Fijian wing Napolioni Nalaga scored the second, taking the ball off the back of a ruck to steam home after numerous phases of home team possession.
The third try was the pick of the Clermont quintet, with Benoit Baby setting John Smit free. Smit offloaded to Sam Broomhall, who drew a host of defenders before floating out a superb pass to Seremaia Bai, who ran under the posts.
Five minutes before the break, Pic took the ball on the short side, again after Clermont had dominated possession, and offloaded to prop Laurent emmanuellli on the angle.
Emmanuelli was buried under bodies, but the TMO decided he had done enough for the score.
James converted all four tries for the 31-0 scoreline.
The hosts eased their foot off the gas in the second half, scoring only one try: a driven effort by Smit who was taken over by his team-mates.
Tongan international Suka Hufanga scored a consolation for Brive in the final minute, which Petitjean converted.
The result leaves Clermont nine points clear at the top of the table, while Brive are still theoreticvally in danger of relegation, but that worry will have eased somewhat after Albi were retrogreded this week for financial irregularities.
If the Albi appeal fails, Brive are safe regardless of their subsequent results.