With 10 seconds left at the end of a 10-month season the fate of the Top 14 hung in the balance. It was 22-16 to Clermont Auvergne but with one last attacking line-out, eight metres short of the try line, Toulon had the chance to snatch victory. Alas, the opportunity went astray and Clermont, left at the altar in 12 of their 13 previous French finals, got their sweaty palms on the Bouclier de Brennus for just the second time.
It was the victory, the final and, most significantly, the result the competition so badly needed. Clermont in full flight are a sight to behold. We saw that three weeks ago at Murrayfield when a sweeping movement covering the full length of the pitch and finished off by Nick Abendanon was the aesthetic peak of the Champions Cup final. Saracens outclassed them over the full 80 minutes and were worthy winners in inflicting a third Heineken or Champions Cup final defeat on Les Jaunards. But how they played their part.
Abendanon was the catalyst to this final's beautiful moment when, less than 10 minutes into the match and deep in his own 22, the former England full-back stripped the ball from the grasp of the biggest man on the pitch, Toulon lock Romain Taofifenua. Abendanon off-loaded to captain Damien Chouly who, in turn, shovelled it on to Damian Penaud. The son of Alain, a Heineken Cup winner with Brive 20 years ago, romped 50 metres into the Toulon half before passing to the Fijian Alivereti Raka who weaved his way past wrong-footed defenders to score the final's opening try.
At 13-up and playing at a tempo few others can compete with Clermont were in control. The power game which is all Toulon have had to offer this season was overshadowed by the sheer brilliance and elan of the men from volcano country.
A penalty from Anthony Belleau, the hero from Marseille, got Toulon on the board shortly after the half-hour but it was a clumsy high-tackle three minutes later in an innocuous position by one of Clermont's stand-out performers, Fritz Lee, that proved a turning point. The No.8 was sent to the sin bin and with double World Cup winner Ma'a Nonu having one of his best nights Toulon were soon back in the contest.
Nonu's powerful run into the Clermont 22 broke the defence and with the ball spun wide to Josua Tuisova it was the human dump truck's turn to embarrass his Fijian friend. Half-an-hour earlier Raka had turned Tuisova inside out with his subtle change of direction and burst of pace. Tuisova's method is more rudimentary and is a microcosm of the Toulon way. He took Raka on head-on and left the Clermont wing on the seat of his pants before crashing over for the try.
Belleau's penalty early in the second half narrowed the deficit to 16-13 but it was his two blemishes off the kicking tee shortly afterwards that, in the final analysis, were to prove the difference between the teams. Both struck the same upright and handed the initiative to Morgan Parra who added two more in a performance of skilful game management as well as his perfect six with the boot which should have reminded national coach Guy Noves just why he remains one of the best scrum-halves in the game.
It was a fitting result given Clermont's consistency throughout the season. Not only had they got to the European final but, with the exception of after round 24, they'd also been in the first two places in the Top 14's league phase from the first weekend in September to its end in May. They also spent 10 straight weeks at No.1 which is longer than the Beatles aggregated with "Can't buy me love", "A hard day's night" and "All you need is love".
Sunday's defeat also signalled the end of Richard Cockerill's Mediterranean soujourn. No coach's season was more tumultuous than the former Leicester director of rugby who would have started the season fancying his chances of silverware at both Aviva Premiership and Champions Cup level. He'd probably have laughed in your face if you'd suggested back then that the closest he'd come to silverware would be in the Top 14.
Clermont apart, Edinburgh end the season as the biggest winners in French rugby. Successful coaches are routinely feted in France with lucrative salaries and contract extensions. Not so Cockerill who will now head off to one of European professional rugby's backwaters where his job description will more likely dictate a top six finish in the PRO12 as the target.
Cockerill was never meant to stay any longer at Toulon than he has. Owner Mourad Boudjellal had had his eye on Fabien Galthie from the moment nine months ago when he woke up with a cold sweat in the stark realisation that his appointment of Diego Dominguez as Bernard Laporte's successor was right up there in the pantheon of dud management decisions.
Cockerill's addition to the Toulon coaching team in the aftermath of his New Year Welford Road sacking had come at the behest of Mike Ford. By then Boudjellal was already falling out of love with the former Bath boss which makes one wonder if, even then, the owner was contemplating the need for a new stop-gap.
Cockerill did a stunning job for Boudjellal. He succeeded Ford after their Champions Cup quarter-final defeat at Clermont on April 2 and won all six matches he took charge of until Sunday - that in spite of the fact he had a squad that is a pale imitation of the one that won three straight European titles and which last won the French championship in 2014.
Cockerill was popular with both his employer and the club's fanbase. His grasp of the language may have found him out of his depth in debate with Jean-Paul Satre but it was more than good enough to conduct press conferences and those awkward post-match television interviews. The French admired that - as they did his work ethic and unique brand of Anglo-Saxon belligerence.
And when Cockerill does eventually decide he's done all he can to further Edinburgh, me thinks men like Mourad Boudjellal, Jacky Lorenzetti and Laurent Marti might just come calling.