Castres captain Remi Tales knocked over two late drop goals to guide Castres to a stunning 19-14 upset of European champions Toulon in the French Top 14 final at the Stade de France.
Tales' scores stopped a Toulon fightback in its tracks after South African scrum-half Rory Kockott's stroke of inspiration had put the underdogs in front at half-time.
Toulon were plagued by uncharacteristic handling errors as they failed to complete a European and domestic double, two weeks after upsetting Clermont in the European Cup final in Dublin.
For Castres it was a fourth French title and first since 1993, the perfect send-off for Racing Metro-bound coaching pair Laurent Labit and Laurent Travers.
