Toulouse consolidated their position at the top of the French Top 14 with a comprehensive victory over last year's finalists, while Clermont took a scrappy victory over Brive to keep the gap to the leaders at three points.
Montpellier 25 - 45 Toulouse
In a repeat fixture of last season's final, the victors were once again Toulouse, this time in a far more comprehensive fashion.
Converted tries from Toulouse full-back Maxime Medard and Aussie fly-half Luke Burgess, and a pair of penalties and a pair of drop-goals from Lionel Beauxis gave the away side an unassailable half-time lead of 26 points to 6.
Montpellier did put up a better fight in the second half, the home side scoring two tries through South African Rassie van Vuuren, before the electric Toulouse number 8 Louis Picamoles crossed to settle the match on 71 minutes.
The hosts did have the last say, with a third try coming from centre Yoan Audrin with the last play of a fiery game, which saw Vincent Clerc and Mamuka Gorgodze sin-binned for a first half scrap, and both sides were again reduced to 14 in the second half after first Thibaut Privat and then William Servat saw yellow. Man-of-the-match Lionel Beauxis, who scored 28 points in total contributed with a further three penalties and another drop goal in the second half to give Toulouse a confident victory to leave the champions on top at the half way point in the season.
Brive 6 - 9 Clermont Auvergne
Whilst Toulouse were giving their fans a gift akin to opening a brand new television on Christmas Day, their rivals at the top Clermont gave their fans the equivalent of knitted socks from an elderly relative.
An error-strewn game was settled by the boot of Brock James, who kicked three penalties to keep Clermont on the heels of Toulouse at the top of the table. What the game lacked in quality, it certainly made up for in effort, as the Top 14's leading try scorers crashed against the immovable wall of the league's best defence.
Matheiu Belie missed several opportunities to keep the home side on level terms, with just one successful first half kick to his name. Replacement Julien Caminati struck with his only kick of the game, but it came late on in the game, at a time when the more obvious choice was for Brive to kick to the corner, trailing by six points.
Brive left their most intense, exciting play for the final two minutes, as they searched for that elusive try to win the game. But they came up short against their neighbours, and they now must look behind them as they become embroiled in the relegation scrap around them.
Racing Metro 26 - 8 Agen
Racing kept up the pressure on the third place battle with a comfortable victory over Agen, leap-frogging their opponents in the process.
Standoff Jonathan Wisniewski kicked 16 of the home side's points with tries either side of half time from Lionel Nallet and Jone Qovu. Agen could only manage a solitary penalty through Valentin Courrent, and a late try from Argentinian wing Belisario Agulla.
Despite the defeat, Agen still remain just 7 points behind third placed Toulon and well and truly in the play-off battle, whilst Racing return to winning ways in convincing fashion after a recent dip in form.
Toulon 20 - 15 Lyon
Toulon retained third place after a tight encounter against struggling Lyon. Johnny Wilkinson again controlled the game for Toulon, kicking five penalties, whilst Lyon full back Romain Loursac matched Wilkinson with five of his own.
The difference between the sides was the only try of the game through French international Alexis Palisson, who crossed eight minutes into the second half.
Ill-discipline cost the visitors who spent 30 minutes in total with 14 men, whilst Carl Hayman also saw yellow for Toulon.
Considering the relative league positions of the two sides, and the advantage in numbers, Toulon failed to kill the game off, but the victory moves them four points clear of the sides below them after Castres slipped up against Bayonne.
Bayonne 16 - 16 Castres
It finished all square in the Basque country as nothing could separate Bayonne and Castres on Friday night.
The away side lead at half time, with a converted try from Romain Martial and a penalty from Romain Teulet, Benjamin Boyet kicking two penalties for the hosts.
Teulet then added a second penalty at the start of the second half, before Bayonne struck back through Abdellatif Boutaty to give the hosts the lead with 20 minutes remaining.
But Castres denied Bayonne a fifth victory of the season with a Teulet penalty in the 72nd minute. The draw means that Castres lose ground to third placed Toulon, whilst Bayonne will have to look over their shoulders with the sides in the relegation spots looming over their shoulder.
Perpignan 38 - 13 Bordeaux-Begles
Perpignan ended their dreadful run of defeats with a powerful bonus-point victory over fellow strugglers Bordeaux.
For 40 minutes it looked as though the rot was to continue, Bordeaux went into half time in the lead 13-6 despite losing both Bruce Reihana and Blair Connor to yellow cards “ Heini Adams crossed in the last minute of the first half, despite his side being down to 14 minutes to ensure his side lead at the break, after James Hook and Gerard Frazer exchanged penalties.
The second half saw Perpignan find the sort of form that took them to the 2009 title, putting the promoted side to the sword with tries from David Marty, Rudi Coetzee, Joffrey Michel and Maxime Mermoz blowing away their visitors. Hook converted three tries, as well as adding another two penalties as Perpignan scored 32 unanswered second half points to allay their relegation fears, and secure them a first Top 14 victory since September.
Stade Francais 23 - 10 Biarritz
Unlike Perpignan, Biarritz couldn't give something for their long-suffering fans to celebrate over Christmas, as they fell to the resurgent Stade Francais in Paris.
The Parisians led comfortably at half time with three tries from scrum-half Julien Dupuy and a penalty from Pascal Pape making it 16 “ 0.
Julien Peyrelongue finally put some points on the board for Biarritz two minutes into the second half with a penalty, but Stade all but secured the victory minutes later with Felipe Contepomi converting his own try to give the hosts a 20 point lead.
South African prop Eugene van Staden picked up a consolation try with 20 minutes remaining, but Biarritz were condemned to their nineth defeat of the season, leaving them with the unenviable award of being bottom at Christmas.
