American Marconi Wireless News - Olympic champion Joseph helps Perpignan to first Top 14 win despite red card

Joseph, 23, helped France to the title in Paris in 2024 and crossed after seven minutes and was sent for an early shower a quarter of an hour for the Catalans, who are bottom of the table.

The 2009 French champions are now two points off Montauban in the play-off relegation zone.

The visitors drop down to 11th, having lost a third straight game after two heavy defeats in the Champions Cup.

Elsewhere, leaders Pau moved five points clear at the summit after pulling away 53-17 at promoted Montauban thanks to a double from young winger Gregoire Arfeuil.

France sevens international Arfeuil, 21, took his tally for the season to nine tries across all competitions.

Only Toulouse's Matthis Lebel with eight tries has scored more times this term in the Top 14.

Former England winger Jack Nowell crossed twice as La Rochelle hammered Bayonne 49-17 to go up to sixth place.

Earlier, Stade Francais fly-half Louis Carbonel kicked an 80th minute conversion to secure a dramatic 20-20 draw with Parisian rivals Racing 92.

"What bothers me is that in the match we reward those who have an ugly way of playing," the 26-year-old told reporters.

"The end of the game is positive, because we didn't give up and we fought like we were starving and in the end it paid off," he added.

Later, Toulouse head to Lyon days after being handed a points deduction and fine for a salary cap breach which sent the 24-time champions below Pau to second place in the table on their head-to-head record.

Susperstar Antoine Dupont is on the bench for the visitors, who are looking for a first away win in the fixture since 2017.

On Sunday, Bordeaux-Begles have named a strong side to host Toulon with the in-form Matthieu Jalibert at fly-half.

D.Moore--AMWN