Toulon overcame the early loss of star five-eighth Matt Giteau to record a 23-13 victory over Ulster in the European Rugby Champions Cup clash in Belfast on Saturday.
The two-time defending European champions took a huge step towards the knockout stages with the win over the 1999 winners.
The French side lost Giteau to a leg injury in the first half with fellow ex-Wallaby James O'Connor replacing the pivot on 27 minutes.
Toulon went on to outscore the hosts two tries to one - South African star Bryan Habana finishing off an excellent move on the stroke of halftime and English winger Delon Armitage running back an interception in the second-half.
Ulster got a late try through Craig Gilroy but it was not enough to prevent them slipping to their second defeat in a week in the competition, the first time they have lost their first two games since the 2008-09 campaign.
Elsewhere, Top 14 side Toulouse recorded their first away victory of the season, beating English side Bath 21-19, confirming the four-time European Cup winners have turned a corner with their fourth successive victory having lost their previous five which was their worst run in 50 years.
The most notable individual performance came from Welsh international George North who scored four tries as Northampton thrashed Ospreys 34-6.
North's first ever quadruple inflicted Ospreys' first defeat of the season and extended the Welsh side's woeful away record in the competition with their last victory outside of Wales coming five years ago.
Toulon top Pool 3 with eight points while Scarlets are second after beating former champions Leicester 15-3 with winger Harry Robinson and halfback Aled Davies scoring tries for the Welsh side.
Scarlets and Leicester have four points while Ulster are struggling with just a point after two games.
"This was like a semi-final to us," said Toulon flanker and man of the match Chris Masoe whose team will next face Leicester back-to-back.
"To get a win here is tough. True champions are those that bounce back and front up and we have done that since we lost to Toulouse a fortnight ago."
Toulouse deserved their victory with three tries to Bath's one, man of the match Imanol Harinordoquy scoring one and setting up another for Maxime Medard.
"This was a very good match for us to win and one in which we maintained the right amount of focus," said veteran flanker Harinordoquy, who signed from long-time club Biarritz when they were relegated last season.
Toulouse though, don't top the pool as Scottish side Glasgow - who thrashed Bath last week - edged a surprise 15-13 away win at Montpellier to lead Toulouse by a point.
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