Top 14 Round Six wrap-up
Stade Français claimed a morale-boosting win over Perpignan on Saturday while Clermont ran five tries past Grenoble.
Last Updated: 22/09/12 10:11pm
Stade Français claimed a morale-boosting win over Perpignan on Saturday while Clermont ran five tries past Grenoble.
Racing Metro jumped to fourth in the standings thanks to a one-point win over early-season leaders Biarritz.
Mont-de-Marsan are still yet to claim a single point this season after going down to Agen.
Montpellier climbed into the top half of the standings with a solid win on the road to Bordeaux-Bègles.
Earlier in the day, Toulon cemented top spot for another week with a bonus-point win over Castres.
Stade Francais 34-24 Perpignan
Former Perpignan full-back Jerome Porical bailed his new team out from the kicking tee as Stade Francais bagged just their second win of the year and moved three points clear of the relegation zone.
Stade Français led 12-11 at half time thanks to four penalties from Porical but the visitors had grabbed the only try via English recruit Richard Haughton.
Parisian fly-half Jules Plisson landed two drop goals in the space of as many minutes to put the hosts 18-11 up but James Hook kept the score board ticking for Perpignan before USAP replacement Sebastien Vahaamahina crashed over to level the scores at 24-24 going into the final 15 minutes.
But Porical landed his eighth kick out of nine before Lei Tomiki scored the winning try for Stade.
Mont-de-Marsan 16-28 Agen
After six losses in their opening six games relegation beckons already for Mont-de-Marsan.
Agen led 18-13 at half-time while fly-half Conrad Barnard punished the hosts' indiscipline with no less than seven penalties in total.
Barnard also added the extras to Romain Edmond Samuel's try on the hour to ensure that Mont-de-Marsan ended empty-handed.
Clermont 44-20 Grenoble
Clermont return to second place in the standings, four points behind Toulon, thanks to the bonus-point win everyone expected.
Grenoble fought hard for the first 35 minutes but two tries - from centre Aurelien Rougerie and loose forward Damien Chouly - just before the interval gave Clermont a 23-6 lead at half-time.
Naipolioni Nalaga extended the lead shortly after the break but Grenoble kept fighting and were rewarded with a try for full-back Fabien Gengenbacher.
French international Wesley Fofana came off the bench to score two tries and secure the bonus point for Clermont despite a late touchdown by Grenoble replacement hooker Albertus Buckle.
Bordeaux-Begles 15-23 Montpellier
A rare win on the road for Montpellier sends Bordeaux tumbling down to 12th place.
Montpellier led 12-9 at half time thanks to early tries from South African hooker Erasmus Jansen van Vuuren and skipper Fulgence Ouedraogo.
Home fly-half Camille Lopez levelled the scores just before the hour mark but Eric Escande put Montpellier back in front before Benjamin Thiery fluffed a what would have been a wonderful try by knocking on after break by Francois Trinh-Duc.
Thiery redeemed himself however by scoring the visitors' third try in the corner in the final quarter.
UBB replacement Emmanuel Saubusse landed a penalty from 50m to keep the hosts in touch but a late Escande penalty denied the home team a losing bonus point.
Racing Metro 13-12 Biarritz
Racing were the big winners of the weekend as they leapfrogged over their visitors into fourth place in the standings while Biarritz concede their second consecutive loss.
Racing led 13-9 at the break thanks to an early try on the counter attack from wing Julien Saubade.
Biarritz plied the pressure in the second but their only reward was Julien Peyrelongue's fourth penalty, meaning the Basques had to settle for a losing bonus point.
Toulon 33-12 Castres
Toulon extended their unbeaten start to the Top 14 season to six games with a comfortable win over Castres at Stade Felix Mayol.
The result also means that Toulon equal the record set by Stade Francais for consecutive wins at the start of a season.
Jonny Wilkinson kicked 18 points including a drop-goal with another faultless kicking display, while Matt Giteau, Charles Orioli and David Smith crossed for tries.
The best Castres could muster was four penalties from South African scrum-half Rory Kockott.
