Top 14: Toulon stun Toulouse, Clermont batter Brive, and Dax win offers hope

Toulon's season-long struggle for survival appears to have paid dividends after they stunned defending champions Stade Toulousain with a 14-6 victory at the Stade Velodrome.

Recent form suggested they could be capable of an upset - especially with Stade Toulousain still nursing a post Heineken Cup hangover following their defeat in Cardiff - but Saturday's win was still a stunning result for the club.

It is now likely to pave the way for the official unveiling of England fly-half Jonny Wilkinson as their star signing next week, but for now the current squad will just be delirious at their historic victory in front of a 60,000 sell out crowd at Olympique Marseille's football ground.

All week President Mourad Boudjellal had talked about conceding advantage by moving the game away from the Stade Felix Mayol, but behind the scenes Toulon knew they would never have a better time to play the pre-weekend leaders.

Guy Noves opted to rest Maxime Medard, Yannick Jauzion, David Skrela and Cedric Heymans, and his battle weary troops failed to overcome the disappointment of last week's crushing loss.

They were 3-0 down at half-time thanks to Sebastien Fauque's early penalty, but the key moment came seven minutes after the restart when rugby league convert Luke Rooney went over for the game's only try.

Fauque added a drop goal three minutes later to make it 11-0, and though Jean-Baptiste Elissalde landed two penalties of his own the home side hung on for their memorable triumph.

Conrad Barnard's monster 55-metre penalty in the 72nd-minute heaped further misery on Stade Toulousain by denying them a defensive bonus point, and thus the opportunity to regain the Top 14 lead from Perpignan.

Toulon will rightly celebrate the win but their joy will have been tempered a little by Dax's surprise 20-15 win away to Montauban on Saturday evening, which ensured the relegation battle remains alive with three games to go.

Thomas Lièvremont's side shrugged off a 10-match losing streak to pull a miraculous victory out of the bag that keeps them within six points of Bourgoin and eight of Toulon.

It was their first win since overcoming Toulon back in November and only their sixth of the season - meaning that the bottom three sides at the beginning of play all recorded wins.

A first-half try from Neumi Nanuku set them on their way, with captain Mathieu Lièvremont adding their second midway through the second period. Both scores were converted, with Maxime Petitjean crucially adding a pair of penalties to ensure the win.

Montauban actually led 9-7 at the break through a trio of Cedric Rosalen kicks, but only managed a further two penalties after the break as they slipped to their fourth defeat in six matches.

The win offers Dax an unexpected lifeline, especially with their next two games at home to Mont-de-Marsan and Toulon.

Elsewhere, Brive’s increasingly brittle defence took another battering on Saturday with derby rivals Clermont Auvergne running in six tries to inflict a 52-7 humiliation.

Prolific Fijian winger Napolioni Nalaga initiated the rout when he went over for Les Jaunards’ opening score in the sixth minute, and it was one-way traffic thereafter as Clermont made a mockery of their opponents’ lofty ambitions.

Two weeks ago Brive were nestled in snugly in fifth spot and dreaming of a twin-track approach to securing Heineken Cup rugby next season, but three games later and their season is now laying in tatters.

A defence which had conceded just nine tries in 17 games has now shipped a staggering 15 in its last three, going down 42-10 at home to Stade Toulousain, 29-18 away to Worcester Warriors (in the ECC) and now 52-7 at Clermont.

They were 23-0 down at half-time at the Stade Marcel Michelin after full-back Anthony Floch had added to Nalaga’s early score, and Seremaia Bai had landed two conversions and a trio of penalties. And it could have been even worse for Brive but for the television official denying Clermont two further tries.

England World Cup winners Ben Cohen and Steve Thompson were both hauled off at the interval as the visitors brought on reinforcements, but it made little difference as the yellow and blue dominance continued.

Former Saracen Brent Russell went over for Clermont’s third try on 53 minutes and Nalaga doubled his tally shortly after as he touched down for number 18 of another outstanding season. French winger Julien Malzieu added their fifth eight minutes from time, with Floch rounding it off when he secured his own brace at the death.

Bai – doing a passable impression of the injured Brock James – ended with 22 points after kicking five conversions and four penalties, with Clermont taking their team tally to 228 in their last five home games in the process.

They appear to be peaking perfectly for the end of season play-offs and have now climbed above Stade Francais into third spot after the latter were unconvincing 24-15 winners at home to Montpellier.

The Paris wannabes led throughout after Djibril Camara’s 14^th-minute try, but struggled to throw off a determined Montpellier side which grew in confidence as the game progressed.

Frederico Todeschini landed four penalties and a drop-goal as they hauled themselves back from 14-3 down at half-time, and only a last minute miss from halfway denied them a defensive bonus point.

In the end Stade Francais were thankful for the three penalties and conversion from Lionel Beauxis, as well as Julien Arias’ 68^th-minute try. Still, at least it ended their three-match losing streak.

The afternoon’s other big winners were Bayonne, who shrugged off successive defeats to destroy a lacklustre Bourgoin 61-10. The Basques ran in eight tries, with South African winger Sam Gerber helping himself to four, including a first-half hat-trick.

Benjamin Fall, Aretz Igunitz, Julien Puricelli and Pierre Bernard also got on the scoresheet as Bourgoin were put to the sword at Stade Jean Dauger.

The win lifted Bayonne back above Brive into fifth position, with the latter now losing momentum in the battle for Heineken Cup qualification. Biarritz are just one point further back following their Friday night win against Perpignan.

Bourgoin, of course, could make all of that irrelevant should they go on to win the European Challenge Cup – and thus claim the last of France’s six Heineken Cup slots – and they were clearly still in celebratory mood after last week’s excellent ECC win at London Irish, and having all but secured their own Top 14 survival with league successive wins prior to that.

Relegation does, however, remain mathematically possible, especially after Dax's surprise win was preceded in the afternoon by a rare victory for basement club Mont-de-Marsan, who beat Castres 21-15 to register their first success January 3^rd – and only their fifth all season.

A brace of Jean-Marc Mazzonetto penalties got them under way before Damien Cler went over for his fourth try of the season to give them a 13-0 lead after half an hour.

Castres fly-half Romain Teulet immediately responded for the visitors, but Mazzonetto landed another penalty after the break before Fijian Timoci Matanavou grabbed Les Montois’ second try.

Full-back Thomas Bouquie pulled a score back for Castres with 10 minutes left, adding a penalty shortly after as they sought to capitalise on the home side’s nerves, but Mont-de-Marsan held out for a memorable win that left the visitors departing with the solitary defensive bonus point.