Defiant Bourgoin boosted their Top 14 survival hopes with a battling 12-6 home win against relegation rivals Bayonne.

Fly-half Alberto De Bernardo was the hosts' hero, kicking all 12 points as Bourgoin bounced back from last weekend's disappointing home defeat by Stade Francais.

The Argentine No 10 kicked three penalties and a drop-goal as Bourgoin registered a potentially crucial victory that saw them leapfrog their visitors into 12th position.

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It was only Bayonne's second defeat in six games under new head coach Christian Gajan, but the ramifications could be huge after the Basques slipped back into the dreaded drop-zone.

There are just six more league games to be played and Bourgoin's win has now dragged both Montauban and Montpellier into the relegation drama, with just four points separating 13th from 10th as the battle for survival hots up.

Bayonne took the lead in the 28th minute at the Stade Pierre Rajon through a Sebastien Fauqué drop-goal, but it was Di Bernardo's boot that proved the more dominant on the evening, with the former Leeds playing slotting two kicks in reply to earn his side a 6-3 interval lead.

Di Bernardo's third success was a superb drop-goal, before his fourth - a penalty midway through the second half - proved the decisive moment, with Bayonne suffering doubly as Kiwi lock Ross Filipo was also sin-binned as the Basques slipped 12-3 down.

A late Cedric Garcia penalty at least earned the visitors a defensive bonus, but there were no tries in a match high on drama but short on attacking flair. Victory and survival were the twin aims of the evening, and in that regard Bourgoin were the double winners.

With only six games left every match is crucial, but Bourgoin's next two look especially so with Montauban (at home) and SCA Albi (away) on the fixture card. The former have been dragged into the end-of-season dog fight despite beating champions Perpignan in their last league match, while basement boys Albi are all but dead and buried already. The latter also travel to Bayonne next up, so they could still have a significant say on which team joins them in the drop back down to ProD2.