Toulouse were deprived of several of their international stars with back three players Vincent Clerc and Maxime Medard ruled out having picked up shoulder and knee injuries respectively during the RBS 6 Nations.

And with inspirational France captain Theirry Dusautoir, Jean-Baptiste Poux and Yoann Maestri all rested and missing from the pack, the depleted Toulouse team fell victim to a spirited performance from the promoted side.

Toulouse were given a bad start when centre Yann David was sent to the sin-bin after only six minutes for a tackle from an offside position.

However, Toulouse did welcome back veteran full-back Clement Poitrenaud and Florian Fritz, who made his international return in the 16-9 defeat to Wales last weekend, on to the bench.

Toulouse still sit top of the Top 14, five points clear of Clermont Auvergne, but their head coach Guy Noves will want his array of stars back sooner rather than later to maintain their charge to the title.

He said: “We were dominated in every area of the game, the set-piece, the attacking game, the breakdown. We weren’t at our best, but that is also because Bordeaux played very well.”