Treviso struck first with scrum half Tobias Botes on target with a penalty but Toulouse responded with the ball in hand, albeit from close range as a quickly taken penalty ended with hooker Gary Botha being driven over by his fellow forwards.

But the lead lasted just four minutes before centre Tommaso Benvenuti finished off a sweeping virtual length of the field move to remind the four-times champions they could not let their guard down for a moment.

And in a virtual repeat of their first try, Toulouse's second also came from a quickly taken penalty and then the forwards collectively doing the business with lock Patricio Albacete adjudged to be the try score from under the pile of bodies.

However, the home crowd were getting restless and when Botes landed a penalty just before the break it was 14-14 with all to play for in the second period.

Treviso made a raft of replacements at the start of the second half and one of them - prop Michele Rizzo - had only been on the field for a couple of minutes before departing for a 10-minute spell in the sin bin.

And while they were down to 14 men the tournament's leading try scorer Vincent Clerc struck with his 35th Heineken Cup try courtesy of a pin-point cross-kick.

Luke McAlister added his third successful conversion and another cross-kick and another try - this time for centre Florian Fritz - and that was the bonus point in the bank with Yoann Huget getting a fifth at the death.