Clermont overcame Toulon in a thriller at the Stade Marcel-Michelin to keep the pressure on Toulouse, who thumped Lyon. Elsewhere Biarritz lifted themselves off the bottom of the table with victory at Agen, and struggling Perpignan tied with Racing Metro.
Friday
Agen 6 - 15 Biarritz
All the points came from the boot as Biarritz recorded consecutive victories for the first time this season. For Agen it was a third defeat in four games as they again fell behind the two sides from Paris in the scrap for the play-offs.
Dimitri Yachvili was again the key for Biarritz, kicking four penalties along with a drop goal from Marcelo Bosch. The France international made his second start of the season, and after the Basque side's victory over Toulon last week they made it two out of two with their talisman back in the 9 jersey.
Conrad Barnard slotted a penalty either side of half time, but Agen could manage nothing more as they fell to a sixth defeat of the season, and dropped back out of the top six.
Saturday
Perpignan 14 - 14 Racing Metro
It will be some relief to Perpignan that Saturday's match against Racing didn't result in a nineth defeat in ten games, but a draw still means the Catalans have won just once since September and are now just four points away from the relegation zone.
The two sides proved to be inseparable, with a single unconverted try and three penalties apiece, resulting in a score that neither side will be particularly pleased with.
It was the Catalans that struck first with less than a minute on the clock Welshman James Hook made an explosive line break, the ball was quickly worked out wide and Farid Sid touched down in the corner. Hook could not convert, but was given the opportunity to extend Perpignan's lead minutes later when Racing were penalised for going off their feet. Hook slotted the kick to give the hosts a promising early lead.
Racing soon struck back with two penalties from Jonathan Wisniewski following infringements at the breakdown to leave the score 8-6 at the break.
Perpignan were the first on the score sheet in the second half courtesy of a Hook kick, before Wisniewski cancelled it out, passing 150 points for the season.
Racing took the lead with 20 minutes to go with their only try of the match. A clever switch of direction by scrum-half Mathieu Loree caught the Perpignan defence by surprise, and a bamboozling run from Argentine wing Juan Jose Imhoff tore the home side's defence apart as Racing lead for the first time in the game.
But with ten minutes to go James Hook levelled things up after Racing were penalised in the scrum to give the home side what could prove to be a precious two points. Hook almost won the game with a late drop-goal attempt, and the home side were camped on the Racing try line for the last few minutes to no avail. The relegation places loom dangerously near for Perpignan, who will hope that 2012 is better to them than the end of 2011.
Toulouse 51 - 10 Lyon
Despite Lyon managing to hold Toulouse's rivals at the top of the league Clermont last week, not even the most sanguine Lyon fan would believe their side able to pull off a similar feat in Toulouse this weekend, and so it proved to be.
After not scoring a single try in their comfortable victory over Bayonne last week, the league leaders more than made up for a comparative dry spell with six tries in a rampaging bonus point securing performance.
The first points of the game came from Lionel Beauxis, who added a further 21 points to the 58 he had scored in the previous two matches. This time however he was more than helped by his team mates in the form of try-scoring contributions.
The first came from Maxime Medard in the nineth minute, followed by Yannick Nyanga scoring Toulouse's second try of the first half, but not before Welsh kicker Lee Thomas put Lyon on the board. The visitors then scored what would be their final points of the game five minutes before half time, as Franck Romanet crossed and Thomas converted.
The second half was one way traffic, Shaun Sowerby scored on 50 minutes, before a late flurry saw three tries come in the last ten minutes. Yves Donguy crossed, quickly followed by Florien Fritz before finally Medard added a second for himself in the final minute. Beauxis converted Medard's effort, to add to the conversion of each of Toulouse's tries in a dominant match for the champions.
Stade Francais 38 - 21 Castres
Stade Francais saw off fourth placed Castres to keep up their healthy run, as well as close the gap on the visitors to the capital.
Stade raced to an imposing 28-0 lead with just 20 minutes on the board, through tries from Sergio Parisse, Pascal Pape, Julien Arias and Paul Sackey. Castres managed to shake off their initial shell-shock and scored a try of their own through Seremaia Bai before half-time.
Stade's lead was extended just a minute into the second half when Pierre Rabadan crossed to make it 33-7. Romain Martial scored Castre's second with half an hour to go, but the early damage done by the hosts was always going to be too great for Castres to recover.
Arias scored a second on the hour, and in a game with nine tries and not a single penalty, the final score went to Castres, Thierry Lacrampe scoring in the final minute and fullback Romain Teulet slotted his third conversion as Castres ended the game 17 points adrift of the hosts, and just one point ahead in the league.
Brive 9 - 23 Montpellier
Montpellier secured their fifth win in six games with victory in Brive as their strong run continued.
Struggling Brive's only points came from the boot of Julien Caminati, whilst converted tries either side of half time from Yoan Audrin and Alex Tolou, along with three penalties from Martin Bustos Moyano saw the visitors to victory.
It is now seven games without a win for Brive, and although they have been on the receiving end of some very close results this season, this one was not one of those, Montpellier easily outclassing their opponents.
For Montpellier, the play-offs have become a very realistic achievement, sixth placed Racing Metro are now just a point ahead of last season's finalists. For Brive it is looking a lot grimmer, with just a point separating themselves and the sides in the relegation zone.
Bayonne 20 - 27 Bordeaux-Begles
Bayonne again fell short as they were stunned by the ever-improving Bordeaux on their home turf on Saturday.
Samoan Ole Avei crossed in the fourth minute to give the visitors an early lead, and Thierry Brana's try five minutes before the break, along with two Bruce Reihana penalties meant that Bordeaux lead 6-20 at half time.
Bordeaux took the first score of the second half with their third try of the game, a second for hooker Avei before a mini revival saw Bayonne claim a losing bonus point. Sam Gerber scored Bayonne's first try, converted by Benjamin Boyet who added to two first half penalties. Soon after, prop Aretz Iguiniz grabbed a second try for the hosts, replacement fly-half Clement Otazo converting to put Bayonne within seven points of their opponents.
The home side couldn't find a third try to level the scores, and Bordeaux's magical season continues, as they move within six points of the play-offs.
Sunday
Clermont Auvergne 25 - 19 Toulon
Clermont emerged victories in a heated encounter at the Stade Marcel-Michelin to extend their incredible undefeated home record to 36 games.
The opening quarter saw Morgan Parra and Johnny Wilkinson exchange kicks before Toulon scored the first try of the game in bizarre fashion.
David Skrela's restart following Wilkinson's second penalty failed to go 10 metres, Clermont switched off and the ball bounced off Clermont captain Auralien Rougerie into the welcoming hands of Toulon full-back Benjamin Lapeyre, who raced along the touchline 50 metres to put Toulon into the lead.
Parra then hit the post, but made amends with a third penalty before the rising tensions boiled over just before half time. A fight broke out between Toulon hooker Jean-Charles Orioli and Rougerie, with the latter pointing accusingly at his eyes. Both saw yellow and set the standard for a fractious second half.
Toulon wing David Smith was yellow carded rather harshly for a deliberate knock-on, and after several unsuccessful phases of play around the Toulon 5 metre line, a collapsed scrum gave Parra the opportunity to close the gap to a point, with the scrum-half duly obliging.
The gap was restored minutes later when Clermont were caught holding on, and Wilkinson kicked the resulting penalty as Toulon edged closer to a famous victory.
But some magic from Clermont wing Julien Malzieu, and a couple of missed tackles from Toulon players Rougerie cross with just over ten minutes remaining.
As Toulon fought to stay in the game, they were penalised for off-side and Parra who scored 20 of his side's 25 points edged Clermont further in front with five minutes to go.
Toulon spent the final minutes camped inside the Clermont 22, but the home side held on to extend their undefeated home record, and ensure that the gap between themselves and third place remained comfortable.
The losing bonus point for Toulon keeps them in third place, but further adrift of the lead two, and very much embroiled in the fight for the play-off places.
