It left them bottom of Pool Two, and with it went any slim chances of progressing through to the European Challenge Cup.
But despite slipping to their fourth defeat in six in the pool, Townsend could find plenty of positives, including an improvement on last season's single victory in the European Cup.
Ruaridh Jackson's penalty and Chris Fusaro's late try also kept them in touch with the French side until the final whistle.
And while ultimately missing out, Townsend wants to see such a performance repeated in the RaboDirect PRO12, where they currently sit fifth.
"Defensively we were great, the forward pack were excellent, pushing them back and making it very difficult for them to use their attacking power," Townsend told Sky Sports.
"We just didn't make the most of our opportunities when we had them under pressure. The last five minutes was an excellent period for us and the energy of the boys was outstanding - we just couldn't find the breakthrough.
"Overall it was disappointing not to win but we have to look at our continued European improvement. We won one game in the Heineken last year and we have won two this year, with some narrow, avoidable losses.
"We will take this week and last week's performance into training and hope to transfer it to the coming Pro12 games."
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