Montpellier's Aliki Fakate breaks through the La Rochelle defence © Getty Images

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News: Galthie tipped as future France boss

Matches: Montpellier 26 - 6 La Rochelle | Bayonne 25 - 26 Perpignan | Agen 12 - 27 Stade Français | Brive 16 - 16 Toulouse | Clermont Auvergne 24 - 6 Castres | Racing Metro 17 - 12 Biarritz | Bourgoin-Jallieu 3 - 26 Toulon

Tournaments/Tours: Top 14 Orange

Teams: Bayonne | Biarritz | Bourgoin-Jallieu | Brive | Castres | Clermont Auvergne | France | Montpellier | Perpignan | Stade Français | Toulon | Toulouse

Montpellier moved to the top of the Top 14 standings by picking up a bonus point in their 26-6 win over 14-man La Rochelle at the Stade Yves du Manoir on Saturday night.

Centre Sylvain Mirande got the ball rolling for the home side when he crossed just 14 minutes in. Fly-half Francois Trinh-Duc squandered the two extra points on offer but he made amends with a penalty before winger Pierre Berard dived over just before interval to make it 13-0 to Montpellier.

Fullback Sebastien Baboul finally got beleaguered La Rochelle off the mark with a 50th-minute penalty only for Trinh-Duc to reply with a drop goal and then a penalty of his own, either side of the dismissal of the visitors' outside centre Seru Rabeni for a second yellow card. Boboul landed another penalty in the final quarter but by that point Montpellier were pushing hard for a third try and it duly arrived with nine minutes to go when Goderdzi Shvelidze forced his way over.

Montpellier's acquisition of a bonus point for scoring three more tries than their opponents saw them take top spot away from Racing Metro, who registered their sixth win in eight games with a hard-fought 17-12 triumph over Biarritz at the Stade Olympique Yves du Manoir earlier in the day.

The victory had its origins in a solid first-half showing, with a ninth-minute try from winger Benjamin Fall and three penalties from fly-half Jonathan Wisniewski helping Racing into a 14-3 half-time lead. Biarritz were lifted by a drop goal from No.10 Julien Peyrelongue early in the second half but Wisniewski replied with a penalty to keep the Basques at arm's length.

Dimitri Yachvili was sprung from the bench for Biarritz and he slotted two penalties shortly after his arrival to drag the visitors to within striking distance but they were unable to breach the Racing defence in the closing stages.

Perpignan, last year's beaten finalists, breathed new life into their campaign with a dramatic 26-25 victory over Bayonne at the Stade Jean Dauger.

Bayonne opened the scoring with a penalty from Benjamin Boyet but Perpignan rocked their hosts with a brace of tries from Maxime Mermoz by the end of the first quarter and it was the Catalans who led, 17-15, at the interval.

Goal-kicking fullback Jerome Porical extended the visitors' lead with his second penalty of the afternoon, eight minutes into the second period, but Bayonne were level moments later when flanker Remy Martin crashed over. Boyet failed to convert but the momentum was now with the home side and they reclaimed the lead with a second try, this time through former Stormers fullback Joe Pietersen.

However, the extra points again went begging and that proved crucial, with Porical nicking it for Perpignan with two penalties in the space of three minutes towards the end of game, leaving Bayonne's players devastated at the full-time whistle.

David Skrela came off the bench to help Toulouse salvage a 16-16 draw from their meeting with Brive at the Stade Amedee Domenech.

Toulouse had made a blistering start, racking up ten points inside the opening six minutes, with wing Vilimoni Delasau crossing with less than 60 seconds gone before fly-half Nicolas Bezy added a conversion and a penalty.

However, Brive had restored parity by the interval thanks to a try from lock Arnaud Mela and five points from the boot of Mathieu Belie. Centre Fabrice Estabanez then nudged the home side into the lead with a 47th-minute drop goal.

Brive replacement David Khinchagashvili was yellow carded just before the hour mark but Toulouse failed to capitalise and allowed their hosts to pull further clear while still down to 14 men courtesy of a penalty from Belie. However, replacement fly-half Skrela came to Toulouse's rescure, slotting over two penalties in the final ten minutes of the game to secure his side a share of the spoils.

Stade Francais arrested a run of three straight defeats by beating Agen 27-12 at the Stade Armandie.

The visitors began the brighter of the two and a ninth-minute try from winger Quentin Valancon and a penalty from Lionel Beauxis helped them into an early eight-point lead. Agen came storming back, though, with openside flanker Ueleni Fono and centre Brice Dulin both notching to help the home side into a one-point lead as half-time approached.

However, centre Martin Rodriguez Gurruchage landed a penalty in the dying seconds of the opening period to edge Stade back in front. The Parisians then took control of the game with a try from England's James Haskell just after the restart and the boot of Rodriguez Gurruchage saw them home.

Reigning champions Clermont Auvergne moved up the table with a facile 24-6 win over Castres at the Stade Marcel Michelin.

Clermont were leading 6-3, thanks to a drop goal from Anthony Floch and a Brock James penalty, when they scored their opening try through Julien Malzieu on 31 minutes. James failed to convert but two more penalties from the fly-half saw the hosts go in at the interval 17-3 ahead.

Romain Teulet stroked over a penalty in the opening stages of the second half to give Castres a glimmer of hope but they never really looked capable of turning the game around and Clermont flanker Alexandre Lapandry put the game beyond them when he flopped over at the start of the fourth quarter.

Toulon's rehabilitation continued on Friday night with a comfortable 26-3 win over struggling Bourgoin at the Stade Pierre Rajon.

The main characteristic of Toulon's performance was again the kicking of Jonny Wilkinson, with the England fly-half slotting two drop-goals, two penalties and two conversions in a 16-point haul. Wilkinson's opposite number, Alberto di Bernardo, kicked Bourgoin's only points after six minutes.

The visitors were made to wait until just before the break for their first try, which went to centre Gabirieli Lovobalavu after some fine footballing skills. The Fijian international latched on to a Wilkinson grubber, chopping the ball ahead before diving in to ground the ball just before the cover.

Bourgoin refused to be bullied, however, and dug deep until the 63rd minute, when former All Black Rudi Wulf finally broke their resolve with the second try of the night.