Toulon 18 (3) Stade Toulousain 13 (3)

England fly-half Jonny Wilkinson kicked all 18 points as Toulon overcame Stade Toulousain for a deserved win in front of a sold out Stade Vélodrome.

The Toulon No 10 landed three penalties and three drop-goals to lift his side up to fourth after they dominated a pulsating second-half in Marseille.

Top 14 Table 2009/10 / Top 14 try-scorers 2009/10 / Top 14 Transfers / Top 14 Fixtures 2009/10 /

Until then it had been a largely cat-and-mouse affair with both sides cancelling each other out in a full-blooded but low-scoring affair. Toulouse were initially the more fluent, with Toulon happy to play on the counter, as the scoring was restricted to three points courtesy of a Frédéric Michalak drop-goal and a Wilkinson penalty.

The 'home' side did well to negate the 10-minute loss of Georgian prop Davit Kubriashvili - harshly sin-binned for a late tackle on Michalak - but struggled to exert their own game pattern as they were consistently outgunned at the set piece - especially the lineout.

Head coach Philippe Saint-André must have waved his magic during the interval however as the match sparked into life upon the resumption, with Wilkinson slotting drop-goal number one within 60 seconds after Toulouse made a hash of the restart.

The visitors barely had time to re-gather their thoughts before Wilkinson was at it again, this time stroking over drop-goal number two from 40m as Toulon opened the second half with a bang. Six points in four minutes was a relative feast given the restricted opening period, and Toulon gained further advantage when Yannick Nyanga was then incorrectly sin-binned - it should have been Thierry Dusautoir - for a stamping offence on full-back Rory Lamont.

But just as it appeared Saint-André's team were ready to cut loose they were hit on the counter by Michalak after the Toulouse fly-half intercepted a Joe van Niekerk pass to run in from his own 22. Jean-Baptiste Elissalde added the straightforward conversion while the otherwise superb Niekerk was left distraught at his mistake, but Toulon's irrepressible captain merely redoubled his efforts following his costly error and was a man possessed for the remainder of the match.

At 9-10 down Toulon knew they had to respond quickly and Wilkinson was duly on hand to re-establish their lead on 53 minutes when he kicked a 25m penalty after Toulouse had been inadvertently caught offside.

An ambitious 45m drop-goal then fell well short and a 50m penalty just wide before Wilkinson again found his radar with his third successful penalty on 59 minutes. It prompted another passage of dominance for Toulon, who appeared to grow in confidence as the half wore on, and van Niekerk came within inches or a redemption try after yet another rampaging counter that had the Toulouse defence scrambling to touch down behind their own try line.

The visitors continued to to repel Toulon's increasing advances, forcing Wilkinson to adopt the pragmatic approach as he duly landed drop-goal number three to make it 18-10 with 20 minutes left to play.

Toulouse head coach Guy Noves then made a raft of replacements in a late effort to fight back and their mounting pressure brought an easy kick for Elissalde to narrow the gap to just five points with 10 minutes left, and set up a grandstand finale.

The 17-time champions dug deep for one last effort and as they monopolized the ball Toulon nerves jangled ever louder, especially in light of their previous two matches which had both ended in heartbreaking defeat inflicted in stoppage time.

The prospect of a third consecutive loss loomed ever larger as the Toulouse machine motored on, and hearts went to mouths as an attempted injury-time clearance was charged down by Vincent Clerc to set up an almighty scramble behind Toulon's try line. Welsh centre Jamie Robinson initially appeared to have missed the horribly bouncing ball, but slow-motion replays showed he did just enough to put off Clerc, and set off wild celebrations as Toulon repeated last year's home win against Toulouse - which was also played at the impressive Vélodrome.

It has certainly proved a happy hunting ground for Wilkinson - who won here with England against Australia in the 2007 World Cup quarter-final - and the joy on the Toulon players' faces after the match was also deserved. Ross Skeate, Juan Fernandez Lobbe, van Niekerk and Joe El Abd all put in monumental performances in another outstanding forward effort, with Lamont also shining on an afternoon that proved again the openness of this year's Top 14 campaign.

"It was a unique atmosphere," purred Wilkinson afterwards. "We knew there was an opportunity to do something special, but we expected a tough game. We had to change things after our two last-minute defeats against Montauban and Montpellier - which were difficult to live with - and I think our defence saved the game today.

"The most important thing is not my individual performance, but the result for the team," he added.

Toulouse, meanwhile, find themselves in the unfamiliar position of having lost three of their opening seven matches, although Noves may take some consolation from the fact they could be prove to be his team's three toughest games of the season - away to Perpignan, Clermont Auvergne and Toulon.

What will please him less, however, was the ankle injury sustained by full-back Maxime Medard on his comeback game from a month out following a dislocated shoulder. The young international will have scans on Monday to find the level of damage, but he must already be doubtful for next weekend's home clash with rejuvenated Stade Francais.