Paris--Toulon showed no signs of a hangover after their unprecedented third consecutive European title with a five-try 37-21 demolition of struggling Castres in the Top 14 on Saturday.
Leigh Halfpenny scored a try, three conversions and two penalties for a personal haul of 17 points as Toulon turned their attention to the defence of their Top 14 title just a week after seeing off Clermont in the European Champions Cup final.
Clermont shrugged off their European misery with a 37-17 win at Grenoble which kept them in second spot while Toulouse, the 17-time champions, kept up their push for a semi-final place with a nine-try 67-19 rout of Brive to go third.
Bordeaux kept their play-off hopes alive with a 26-23 win over Oyonnax.
At the other end, rock-bottom Lyon drew 16-16 with La Rochelle but are almost certainly doomed to relegation.
A star-studded Toulon proved too strong for a Castres locked in a relegation battle but who denied the home side an offensive bonus point by scoring three tries of their own.
"Above all, we take the four points for the win, even if it's true that we made two or three mistakes which meant we didn't take the bonus point we should have taken," said Toulon coach Bernard Laporte.
"But I saw a lot of concentration and willingness from the players right from the kick-off."
Laporte added: "We'll now rotate much of the squad for Clermont (next week)."
AFP
