Nick Abendanon has backed Bath to bounce back from a "heartbreaking" Heineken Cup defeat against French giants Toulouse.

Bath led in injury time at Le Stadium following full-back Abendanon's 77th-minute try, but they were then undone by a sixth David Skrela penalty as Toulouse stole an 18-16 Pool Five win. Abendanon said: "Not many teams come to Toulouse and give them the runaround. It was an awesome effort and we didn't deserve to lose. We will take the positives because we can be the number one team in this group.

"If we want to be a champion side, then these are the games we have to win. It was heartbreaking and we're all gutted. We came so close - the lads are devastated."

Scrum-half Michael Claassens also touched down for Bath, who came within seconds of recording arguably their greatest Heineken Cup victory since beating Brive to lift the trophy 10 years ago. Leicester, who are seeking to emulate Toulouse as three-time European champions this season, launched their campaign by grounding the Ospreys 12-6 at Welford Road.

Fly-half Toby Flood delivered an impressive display in front of watching England coaches John Wells and Mike Ford, booting four penalties before limping off nursing a dead leg. But the Tigers were forced to withstand sustained late Ospreys pressure before South African Derick Hougaard - Flood's replacement - cleared the danger with a 50-metre clearance kick.

Leicester flanker Tom Croft said: "There was sheer panic at the last scrum. I was just hoping they didn't come around my side. But we kept our discipline superbly, turned over the scrum and then we were all relieved to see Derick clear the ball downfield."

The Ospreys, who will again be without their suspended Wales centre Gavin Henson for next Saturday's Pool Three appointment with Perpignan, could also lose wing Nikki Walker due to a hand injury. Wasps, Heineken Cup winners in 2004 and 2007, saw off Adams Park visitors Castres 25-11, and now face their principal Pool Two rivals Leinster in Dublin next Saturday.

The Londoners led 17-0 after 22 minutes following tries from Paul Sackey and Tom Voyce, before Danny Cipriani sent centre Josh Lewsey over for their third touchdown. Wasps rugby director Ian McGeechan said: "The experienced players had to take a lead and show up for real, and I thought all of them did - they delivered big time. Honesty is what this club is about, and I thought the honesty came out. A lot of hard work went in, and we got the benefits."

Lewsey, meanwhile, had criticised Cipriani for missing tackles during a one-on-one defensive drill earlier in the week, and with passions high, he ended up punching the Wasps and England fly-half.

It became front page news, but Cipriani and Lewsey celebrated the try with a bit of good-humoured shadow-boxing before embracing.

In the European Challenge Cup, tournament favourites Saracens made a flying start, scoring seven tries during a 53-3 victory over Mont de Marsan at Vicarage Road, but Italian minnows Overmach Parma caused an upset, defeating Brive 34-29.