Perpignan 29 (6)
Toulon 25 (11)

The sun shone, the Spanish city of Barcelona was awash with 'blood and gold' and in the end the right team won as Perpignan triumphed over Toulon to book their first Heineken Cup semi-final appearance in eight years.

On a day of Catalan joy - and Perpignan pride - it was 37-year-old English prop Perry Freshwater who proved the ultimate hero (for his match-winning try), but that merely tells a fragment of this enthralling story.

Heineken Cup 2010/11 Results and Tables

Perpignan initially seemed cowed by the vast 55,000 crowd, but they deservedly won this tie with a bullish second-half performance that saw them outscore Toulon by 23 points to 14 as they were roared on by a passionate and partisan support. ERC, the competition's organizers, must have been delighted by the occasion, but not more than Perpignan's bellicose president Paul Goze, who oversaw the win like a Roman emperor surveying gladiatorial combat in the coliseum.

Hosting a big-time Perpignan game in Barcelona has long been Goze's dream, but for the opening 40 minutes here it seemed as if the 2009 French champions would fluff their lines having finally made it to their spiritual heartland. A nervy opening half was littered with mistakes, fouls and two yellow cards as the 'home' side saw Guillaume Vilaceca and Robins Tchale-Watchou both sent to the sin-bin.

But, despite all that, the Catalans were still level pegging at 6-6 as the interval approached before veteran Australian flanker George Smith charged down an attempted clearance and scored for Toulon right in front of the massed Perpignan support.

Jacque Brunel's team were still down to 14 men at the time - due to Tchale-Watchou's 33rd-minute yellow card - but the Perpignan coach rallied his troops at the break with some choice words and they emerged reinvigorated after the break as they finally got to grips with the task in hand.

Full-back Jérôme Porical put aside his first-half nerves to reduce the arrears to 11-9 when he slotted his third successful penalty just two minutes after the restart, and within another 10 minutes the 'sang et orr' flags were waving manically again as winger Adrien Plante darted in for a try which put Perpignan ahead for the first time in the match.

Porical's conversion made it 16-11 to the hosts, but a rollicking charge from Toulon lock dean Schofield prized open a slack Perpignan defence just two minutes later, allowing a rampant Joe Van Niekerk to dive in under the posts. Jonny Wilkinson eased over the conversion to temporarily give Toulon the lead once more but that was as good as it got for Philippe Saint-André's team.

Perpignan again regathered and their increasing dominance drew inevitable reward - first with another brace of Porical penalties (in the 62nd and 68th minutes) and then with Freshwater's game-breaking try seven minutes from time.

The former England and Leicester prop is something of an institution in Perpignan, but he is certainly not known for his try-scoring. "I just push, I don't score," admitted the 37-year-old afterwards.

But Saturday was his turn to shine and claim the headlines that props deserve but so rarely attain. A shoulder injury had threatened to deprive him of his big moment but Freshwater eventually entered the fray on 47 minutes when Jérôme Schuster hobbled off, and he was ideally placed seven minutes from time as Perpignan's increasing dominance allowed hi mto burrow over.

Now the celebrations could truly begin, and how! The final seven minutes were played out to a deafening backdrop of noise, frenetic flag-waving and sheer unadulterated Catalan joy.

Toulon managed to reduce the eventual score-line with a last-minute Fabien Cibray try, but there was never any serious doubt that this would be Perpignan's day once Freshwater had bulldozed over. Wilkinson drop-kicked the conversion to save time, but it was merely a formality as the final whistle was immediately blown to kick-start a raucous night of celebration in Barcelona.

One had to feel for Toulon because no-one likes to lose a quarter-final, but in truth they had already surpassed expectations in reaching this stage of the competition in their debut season of Heineken Cup rugby. Their time will come, perhaps as soon as next year, but for now the spoils go to Perpignan as they continue their quest for a maiden Heineken triumph.

Next up for them is a truly testing trip to Northampton in the semi-finals, but there is definitely something about this Perpignan team at the moment. They are gathering momentum just at the right time of the season, and they have an increasing self-belief that 2011 will be their year. After Saturday it is hard to doubt that, even if Chris Ashton et all stand in their way.