Surprise package Castres surged to the top of France’s Top 14 with their third away win of the season at the weekend as champions Perpignan turned over Stade Francais.
Fifteen points from the boot of New Zealand fly-half Cameron McIntyre was enough to condemn Bayonne to their first home defeat of the season and secure Castres’ third win away on Friday night with a 15-6 victory.
With former European champions Toulouse also putting in a powerful second-half display on Saturday to down Biarritz 23-3, the minnows from nearby Castres may not cling on long to the leadership.
And they face champions Perpignan next Friday. The Catalans, fresh from a hard-fought 20-14 win over Stade Francais, now sit menacingly in second place.
They formed an awesome defensive bloc to deny Stade in the dying minutes before 77,000 people at the Stade de France in Paris.
The big guns of French rugby swopped tries in the first half but it was the vistors who led 10-5 at the break.
A 58th minute touchdown by Jerome Porical, who tallied 15 points, proved the difference as 14-man Perpignan held out heroically against Stade’s late siege.
Toulouse’s slick two-try victory ended a run of seven wins for Biarritz who dropped down a place from third in the league.
“We lost against one of the best teams in Europe at the momment,” said Biarritz hooker Benoit August.
“It’s nothing to be ashamed off and it shows us what we need to do.”
England’s 2003 World Cup hero Jonny Wilkinson continued his storming start to the season with a try, five conversions and two penalties as Toulon trounced Bourgoin 46-28.
The Mediterranean stars ran in six tries to Bourgoin’s three and manager Philippe Saint-Andre happy.
“It was a key match for us because if we had lost we could have tumbled into the bottom half of the league,” he said.
“Everything might not have been perfect but we are making progress. In the last two minutes we had the energy to score the try which gave us the attacking bonus point.”
Frenchman Jonathan Wisniewski kicked all Racing-Metro’s 18 points to down Brive 18-10.
Early season leader Clermont were beaten 16-9 at Montpellier, their third defeat of the campaign, and slipped to third place.
And Montauban eased past basement outfit Albi 20-6.
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