Toulouse defeated Castres 26-11 on Saturday to return to the summit of the French Top 14 while big-spending Toulon were beaten 32-29 by second-placed Perpignan courtesy of a last-minute drop goal.

Toulouse lead Perpignan by a point in the standings while Stade Francais are third, four points off the lead after slumping to a shock 22-16 loss at Montauban on Friday.

Backrow forward Gregory Lamboley and replacement centre Remi Lamerat scored Toulouse's two tries with discarded international fly-half Frederic Michalak kicking 16 points.

Toulon, who announced the signing of Argentine centre Felipe Contepomi in midweek, saw their battle against relegation suffer a jolt when David Mele sent over a drop goal in the first minute of injury time to secure victory for Perpignan.

Former Argentina skipper Agustin Pichot returned to Stade Francais on Friday but couldn't prevent his side from slipping to a shock defeat at Montauban.

The veteran 34-year-old scrum-half, who led the Pumas to third place at the 2007 World Cup, had left Stade in 2007 after four years to play for ambitious city rivals Racing Club Metro.

But he returned to Stade last month to help inspire a title push. He came on as a substitute on the hour mark for Noel Oelschig with his team trailing 12-3.

However, Montauban ran away to secure a win that keeps them in mid-table and left the capital city side still without a victory at their hosts since 2000.

Stade had the minor consolation of temporarily going back to the top after picking up a bonus point.

Two first half penalties from Petre Mitu gave Montauban a 6-0 lead at the interval with Stade's hopes not helped by losing backrow forward Juan-Manuel Leguizamon with a head injury after just seven minutes.

Johan Dalla Riva scored Montauban's only try seven minutes from time with Lionel Beauxis crossing in the last minute for Stade to make sure of the losing bonus point.

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