11 September 2009: Bourgoin 17 Perpignan 6. Hooker's dash sets up only try as resurgent Bourgoin see off uninspiring champions in match interrupted by floodlight failure

Bourgoin defied the 11 places between themselves and Perpignan to beat the champions 17-6 at Grenoble's Stade des Alpes. The Easterners, who nearly went out of business three weeks ago, gave a stuttering USAP few chances, and scored the only try of the match with a dramatic interception score on one of the rare occasions that the visitors looked threatening.

A lively opening saw Perpignan dominate the first 10 minutes, but it was Bourgoin's Benjamin Boyet who had the first pop at goal, missing a 40-metre penalty after nine minutes. It was the champions who scored the first points though, Gavin Hume slotting a drop goal from just in front of the 10-metre line after 11 minutes.

With neither side able to break through stubborn defences, the game was mostly played between the 10-metre lines and it was from 40 metres that Benjamin Boyet tied the scores with a penalty after USAP lock Guillaume Palau's high tackle on opposite number Coenrad Basson.

The score sparked Bourgoin into action, and when their scrum pushed the visitors off their own ball, USAP's pack transgressed and Boyet kicked his second goal from 30 metres.

Things were looking up for the home-from-home team when Gregory Le Corvec followed up Hume's up-and-under by tackling Bourgoin full back Florian Denos high and off the ground on 27 minutes. But Bourgoin couldn't take advantage of the extra man, and it was Perpignan who had chances to score, Jerome Porical narrowly missing an opportunity to tie the scores from out wide with a 32nd minute penalty, before sending another kick inches wide from inside his own half shortly before Le Corvec's return.

Boyet was fingertips away from an interception try just before the break, but after the teams turned round at 6-3, Bourgoin scored the only try of the match. Bourgoin had put Perpignan under pressure from the kick-off, but their forays into the USAP half proved fruitless.

Just as Perpignan appeared to be making ground, centre Jean-Philippe Grandclaude was smothered by Fijian winger Albert Vulivuli on Bourgoin's 22-metre line and the ball popped into the arms of Bourgoin hooker Remy Vigneaux. He raced down the touchline, escaped the frankly feeble clutches of Hume, and when he was finally caught by Farid Sid 55 metres downfield, Bourgoin's Samoan scrum-half John Senio was on his shoulder to race over.

Boyet's conversion attempt came back off the post, but the 11-3 lead was enough to light up the half-empty stadium and spur new Bourgoin president Gaston Maulin into a little dance on the touchline.

In response, Porical finally opened his account with a penalty for 11-6, but Bourgoin went straight back on the attack, Senio's chip into the in-goal narrowly evading winger Jean-Francois Coux's grasp.

Surprisingly for a team who had put three wins together before today, Perpignan's attempted fightback was hampered by dropped passes, clumsy knock-ons and indecisive backline moves, and as frustration set in for the infringing Catalans, Boyet extended Bourgoin's lead with further penalties on 56 and 61 minutes.

Perpignan must have been hoping for an abandonment when a section of the stadium's floodlighting went off on the hour, but Maulin clearly found a couple of spare euros for the meter and after five minutes, the match restarted.

But the lights had long gone out for Perpignan, and the resilient Berjaillens had the better of the last quarter, hardly allowing the visitors out of their own half and, despite a late yellow card for their Cameroon prop Arnault Tchougong and a promising but disappointing mini-bagarre in the dying seconds, Bourgoin could celebrate their third win in four and a remarkable turnaround from last Sunday's stuffing at Bayonne.