Castres captain Remi Tales emulated opposite number Jonny Wilkinson by knocking 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 on Saturday.

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.

“We’re very happy tonight and it is something that will be engraved on our memories forever,” said Travers.

“We have good players at Castres and it’s a great victory.”

Toulon scrum-half Frederic Michalak added: “We had a chance at the double but it came down to small details.

“We tried to play our game and keep it open but they made it difficult.

“We gave away the try and couldn’t get back into the game. We won one final and have lost another.”