Montauban 18 (18) Castres 18 (8)

Courageous Castres battled back from 15-3 down to snatch a late draw at Montauban, despite playing more than half the match with 14 men following Mathieu Bonello's 34th-minute sending off.

It was a remarkable comeback from the visitors - who also had two players yellow carded in the second-half - and was given added piquancy due the fact it was the first return to their former club for new coaching duo Laurent Labit and Laurent Travers.

They even had a last-minute opportunity to steal the win, but Cameron McIntyre's long-range penalty fell short, much to the relief of Montauban's players and staff.

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The match started calmly enough with Julien Audy and McIntyre kicking a penalty apiece in the opening 10 minutes, but then all hell broke loose after Montauban winger Vilimoni Delasau touched down for the opening try.

The veteran Fijian - rested for the last match against Brive - capitalised on a quickly taken penalty on the halfway line to spark an action-packed period that saw two further scores and a red card.

It was Delasau himself who was next on the scoresheet, running in try number two on 18 minutes as Marc Raynaud's men appeared to assume complete control. Audy converted this time to ease Montauban 15-3 ahead, but Castres responded with conviction and were back in the contest after a try from Montauban old boy Matthias Rolland.

McIntyre missed the conversion (and two later penalties), but just as the visitors gathered further momentum they were stopped dead in their tracks when hooker Bonello was given his marching orders for stamping.

Montauban were still 15-8 ahead at that point and a recovery seemed a long way off for Castres, especially when Audy kicked his second penalty shortly before the interval to further extend the hosts' advantage.

Their numerical inferiority appeared handicap enough at half-time, but Castres were reduced to 13 men just three minutes after the restart when former All Black Chris Masoe was sent to the sin-bin. Surely this was the sign for capitulation.

But Montauban seemed strangely reluctant to ram home their advantage and Castres managed to hold out for the next 10 minutes before Masoe's return initiated a period of sustained pressure by the away side. First flanker Steve Malonga thought he'd got a try back on 55 minutes but was denied by the television ref, before replacement centre Pierre-Emmanuel Garcia had more fortune and was granted his effort after touching down between the posts. Full-back Romain Teulet added the extras, having assumed kicking duties from the misfiring McIntyre, with Castres incredibly right back in the hunt at just 18-15 down.

Montauban's Abdelatif Boutaty was next into the sin-bin on 62 minutes, with Castres' Josefa Tekori following just five minutes later as tempers and nerves frayed in a wholehearted encounter in front of a passionate Sapiac crowd.

But the hosts were still ahead with six minutes left as they sought a new club record of four successive Top 14 wins, only for Mathew Clarkin to transgress - and become the latest player to see yellow. The ensuing penalty handed Teulet an easy opportunity to level the scores and set up a frantic finale as both teams played out the closing minutes with just 14 men.

Cedric Rosalen missed with a 79th-minute drop-goal for Montauban before McIntyre's injury time effort had the home crowd holding their breath with fear.

In the end a draw was probably the right result, although both teams will regret not having taken the four points. Castres moved up to sixth place - still with a game in hand on all the teams above them - while Montauban are now seventh (and level on 15 points with Castres).

The main question now is how much did such a Herculean effort take out of the Castres squad, which is facing six games in three weeks due the backlog caused by their 'swine flu' postponements. At least they are at home on Saturday, when they entertain Racing-Metro 92, but these next five games are sure to be a test of both physical and mental strength.

"When you do not stay organized it's hard to win," conceded Montauban's Antoine Battut afterwards. "We were more than satisfied with our first half, but in the end we're almost happy with the draw," he added.

"What is frustrating is that we played the first 40 minutes as we did the last 20 against Stade Francais," lamented Castres co-coach Travers. "We showed our potential in the second half when we ended up close to winning," he added.