London Irish director of rugby Brian Smith heaped praise on his assistant coach Mike Catt for guiding his team to a third successive win in Pool 1.
It means the Exiles are five points clear at the top of the table and on course for a possible first visit to the knock-out stages of the Heineken Cup.
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"Mike hurt his back in the captain's run the day before the game and we weren't sure if he would be able to play even when he turned up at the ground," said Smith.
"He didn't do the full warm-up before the game, but gave me a wink of the eye to say he was ready to give it a go. Then he went out there and played a full 80 minutes having been in bits the previous day.
"He is a very special person. At 36 I think I would be asking myself what I was doing getting up for training every day, but he loves it and is even talking about playing for another season.
"This win means we can relax a bit in Perpignan because all the pressure will be on them. We need to go there and put as much width on our game as possible and see what we can come up with.
"We're at the top of the Pool at the moment, but we will be in a better position after next weekend to see if we are in control."
