The China Mail - Late Maximin try sends Pau top after shocking champions Toulouse

That score, which came after the final hooter, put Pau in front for the first time in the game and rewarded them for a dogged display that returned them to the French Top 14 summit, just hours after they had been replaced there by Bayonne.

Toulouse dropped from second to third with a losing bonus point as injury-plagued Bayonne climbed above them with a 44-17 thrashing of Clermont.

A Pau victory looked an unlikely proposition after Toulouse got off to a fast start.

Hooker Julien Marchand bulldozed over from a rolling maul and wing Ange Capuozzo finished a smart move in the corner as Toulouse romped into a 14-0 lead.

But Capuozzo spilled the resulting kick-off and centre Emilien Gailleton streaked over in the corner.

Scot Blair Kinghorn for Toulouse and Pau's English fly-half Joe Simmonds exchanged a pair of penalties each as the champions led 20-13 at the break.

Another Capuozzo error under the high ball saw wing Aaron Grandidier dive over in the corner and Pau thought they had gone in front when Argentine back row Facundo Isa sold an outrageous dummy and went in by the posts.

But VAR intervened to harshly disallow the score for obstruction.

A penalty from Axel Desperes, who replaced the injured Simmonds just before half-time, drew Pau level at 23-23 but Kinghorn then kicked the champions back in front.

Yet Pau had the last word as they bravely kicked a penalty to touch and then let their forwards barge over for the winning score.

- 'Cool' offence -

Back row forward Esteban Capilla and wing Mateo Carreras scored two tries each as Bayonne ran in six tries to earn their first attacking bonus of the season.

The Basques set their way towards an 18th straight home victory with three first-half tries -- as Capilla grabbed his first before wing Arnaud Erbinartegaray and scrum-half Baptiste Germain also crossed the whitewash.

"Offensively it was cool, it was good weather, the ball moved quickly, it was dry," said Capilla.

"The backs moved around a lot, creating overlaps on the flanks, which gave me space."

Clermont had only a Tom Raffy penalty to show for their first half efforts and although hooker Folau Fainga'a gave them hope with an early second-half score, Bayonne soon put the game to bed.

Explosive Argentine back Carreras scored twice and Capilla added his second as Bayonne made light of missing 15 players.

Back row Selevasio Tolofua's late score for the Jaunards was little more than a consolation.

A much-changed Stade Francais sit fourth as a last-minute penalty from Louis Foursans-Bourdette earned them a losing bonus point in a 29-24 reverse at Castres.

Former England wing Jack Nowell scored one of eight tries for La Rochelle, who thrashed newly-promoted Montauban 54-19, despite resting France internationals Nolann Le Garrec and Gregory Alldritt.

Fijian back-row forward Levani Botia also scored a try and New Zealander fly-half Ihaia West kicked five conversions for the two-time Champions Cup winners who remain down in 10th.

Montauban scored three tries of their own but a fourth successive thrashing on their travels has seen them concede more than 250 points and 38 tries in that time.

They remain above Perpignan at the bottom, though, as the Catalans lost for the seventh time in as many matches this season with a 27-12 defeat at home to Champions Cup holders Bordeaux-Begles.

The pick of Bordeaux's three tries was an individual effort by France fly-half Matthieu Jalibert, who set off from his own 22 with a quickly-taken tap penalty to seal the victory.

Argentine centre Justo Piccardo, who recently lit up the Rugby Championship, scored one of Montpellier's five tries in their 35-13 victory over Lyon that left both sides in mid-table.

Toulon host Racing 92 in the last match of the weekend on Sunday.

W.Cheng--ThChM