Perpignan kept up the pressure on leaders Clermont ahead of next Saturday's top-of-the table clash with a bonus point win over Montauban. The visitors started the stronger and went ahead with a ninth minute Regis Lespinas penalty, but the centre went off injured a minute later and the half-back musical chairs that followed left the green and blacks' gameplan somewhat disorientated.
Lespinas' replacement Julian Audy traded penalties with Nicolas Laharrague, but with USAP leading 9-6 going into the interval, Gerrie Britz scored the first try of the match, the South African lock charging through Julian Laharrague to score, despite a questionable double movement as he grounded.
Audy closed the gap to 16-9 after the break, but on 56 minutes Nicolas Durand scored USAP's second try, the scrum-half darting from the back of the scrum to race over with little opposition.
Perpignan sealed the bonus point eight minutes from time, Farid Sid touching down in the corner after rolling over in the tackle to get the ball over the line. The video referee took a good two minutes to come to the decision but eventually awarded the score which took Perpignan into a 28-9 lead and within three points of Clermont, who visit Stade Aimé-Giral for a repeat of last season's Top 14 final next weekend.
Toulon leapfrogged Toulouse into third place (on correct league tables where matches between tied teams determine positions, at least) with a thrilling 18-13 win at Marseilles' Stade Velodrome.
Jonny Wilkinson kicked three second-half drop goals for the hosts to add to his three penalties, but it was Toulouse who scored the only try of the game, Freddie Michalak giving the visitors a 10-9 lead with a 51st minute score totally against the run of play. Deep in the Toulouse 22, Joe van Niekerk delivered what he thought was a try-scoring pass to winger Sinoti Sinoti, only for Michalak to anticipate the pass, intercept and race 90 metres to score.
Wilkinson struck back at once with a 30 metre penalty, and extended the lead when Vincent Clerc was pinged for holding on in his own 22. Another Van Niekerk break set up Wilkinson's third drop goal for an 18-10 lead, but although Jean-Baptiste Elissalde kicked a penalty on 68 minutes to close to the gap to five points, Toulon appeared to be in control as the visitors were knocked back in possession by the hosts' determined defence.
A Clerc knock-on with seconds to go appeared to mark the end of Toulouse's hopes, but the visitors turned the scrum and earned one last attack. Charge after charge came to nothing, but Toulouse kept possession and with 83 minutes already on the clock, were awarded a penalty in front of the posts. Coach Guy Noves appeared to be calling for the scrum but his charges opted for the tap.
Two phases later Heymans was tackled and the ball turned over, but as Toulon centre Mafileo Kefu kicked for touch, Clerc charged down and the ball careered towards the Toulon in-goal. Kefu's centre partner Jamie Robinson couldn't catch the ball and as it bounced over his shoulder, Clerc appeared to touch down first, but after some deliberation the video ref decided that the ball had bounced back into the pirouetting Robinson's bread basket and Toulon had held on for a famous win at the sell-out Velodrome.
Bayonne overcame the biblical weather that inundated the Basque coast to beat Montpellier 26-3 in Friday's Top 14 tie that was eventually rearranged for Sunday night. After Benat Arrayet had kicked the game's first points, winger Benjamin Fall opened the try account with a 21st minute effort, creating an overlap with Thibault Lacroix to race in user the posts for his fifth try of the season.
Arrayet kicked two more penalties and replacement Cedric Garcia landed a fourth in response to a single effort from Montpellier's international stand-off Francois Trinh-Duc before hooker Ace Tiatia doubled Bayonne's tally with five minutes left on the clock. Shortly after 'Pellier prop Sebastien Petit was shown a yellow card, an almighty shove from the Basque pack pushed them to within two metres of the visitors' try line, and Petit broke to touch down. Tiatia himself saw yellow a minute from time but by then the result was dans le sac.
Castres got back to winning ways with a 9-6 victory over Racing-Metro. The home team - who won their first three Top 14 games only to suffer defeat at Stade Francais and earn a midweek draw at Montauban - never lost the lead after Romain Teulet opened the scoring with a 36th penalty, but Racing had come close to scoring in the first 20 minutes, Julien Saubade and Berry combining to take the ball deep into the hosts' 22 before committing a knock-on, and Saubade again racing more than 50 metres and feeding to Fabien Fortassin only for the Castres defence to regain possession.
And so it was left to Teulet and Andrew Mehrtens to play out a second-half kicking contest in soggy conditions at Pierre-Antoine, swapping kicks until Mehrtens brough racing to within three points with 10 minutes on the clock. But Castres held tight in the damp conditions and returned to the top six with their fourth win from six.