Giordani was a couple of metres short of the line, he chipped to Bomati, who claimed it in the corner to touch down for the try.

There was more bad news for Leinster, with the withdrawal of Ireland captain Brian O'Driscoll, who looked to be carrying an injury all day.

Gordon D'Arcy had gone over for Leinster minutes earlier after a fine solo effort by Denis Hickie, who offloaded to D'Arcy.

Two second-half drop goals by Frédéric Cermeno had drawn Perpignan level after the French went down to 14 men again as hooker Koniec was sent to the bin for careless use of the foot at the ruck.

A Brian O'Meara penalty was the only score of the opening half in a scrappy game in which both sides failed to settle, and he added a second in the opening minutes of the second half.