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Some of rugby's biggest stars were on show on the one field on Sunday - including arguably the game's greatest ever centre pairing.

But former Hurricanes and All Blacks team-mates Ma'a Nonu and Conrad Smith were on opposite sides of the field this time around as Pau travelled to the Stade Mayol for a date with European champions, Toulon.

Also on show were Aussie stars James O'Connor, Drew Mitchell and Quade Cooper while All Blacks utility Colin Slade lined up at No.10 for Pau.

While Toulon escaped with a grinding four-point win - thanks largely to two tries from O'Connor - the major talking point came in the 56th minute when Smith sold his long-time centre partner a dummy on a 20-metre run to the tryline.

It wasn't a particularly good night for Cooper either, the playmaker picking up a yellow card five minutes before the break.

Elsewhere in France, Brumbies and Western Force castoff Zac Holmes kicked La Rochelle to just their fifth win of the season at home to Castres.

Holmes kicked six penalties and a conversion in a personal 20-point haul while South African-born France scrum-half Rory Kockott scored all of Castres' points via two tries, two conversions and three penalties.

Meanwhile in Paris, Dan Carter's charmed run at Racing 92 continued as the Top 14 ladder leaders edged Bordeaux Begles 23-18.

Fresh from his Twitter banter session with Irish great Brian O'Driscoll, Wallabies veteran Adam Ashley-Cooper was able to do little as both he and fellow off-season recruit Sekope Kepu started from the bench.

Across the Channel, it was Leicester's turn to see if they could end the run of the unbeaten Saracens.

The Tigers were never in it despite the best efforts of Tongan flyer Telusa Veainu and Fijian veteran Vereniki Goneva - Saracens making it a perfect eight from eight in the Premiership with a 26-6 victory.

There was little southern hemisphere involvement across the Premiership's other Round 8 fixtures with Harlequins veteran and former All Blacks fly-half Nick Evans one to force his way onto the scoresheet in a 24-20 win at Worcester.

It was a similarly dour weekend in the Guinness PRO12 local derby round apart from Cardiff's entertaining 29-27 win over the Scarlets.