All Montpellier's points came from Argentinian Martin Bustos Moyano, who scored a try, landed the conversion and kicked five penalties as they recorded their third successive victory after an opening defeat to Biarritz.

Toulouse - who had come into the match on the back of a bruising victory over Stade Francais - almost grabbed victory at the end when Nicolas Bezy went over for their second try of the match.

However after being awarded the try following a referral to the video referee, Bezy - who scored 16 of his side's points - turned to villain as he missed with what would have been a game winning conversion.

Victory saw Montpellier leapfrog Toulouse into top spot, though champions Clermont could go top if they beat Stade Francais' Parisian rivals Racing-Metro later on Wednesday.

Fijian star back Vilimoni Delesau had given the visitors breathing space at half-time with a breathtaking intercepted try which he ran back 70 metres to touch down under the posts - Bezy converted it to make it 16-9 at the break.

Prior to that Bezy and Bustos Moyano - who joined from Argentinian side Pampas XV in the summer - had exchanged three penalties apiece in a no holds barred clash.