* postponed from Friday night due to a frozen pitch, and switched to Llanelli
** postponed from Saturday due to a frozen pitch, and switched from Brussels to Paris

Stade Francais ended a frustrating week on a happy note with a comprehensive 29-16 home win against Ulster to put them back on track for a coveted quarter-final berth in the Heineken Cup.

The Paris side made light of a 24-hour postponement, venue switch and the furore surrounding Julien Dupuy's six-month ban to move four points clear at the head of Pool 4 after Sunday's win. Weekend winners Stade Toulousain and Biarritz also top their respective groups heading into the New Year, while Clermont Auvergne are well placed to make a late move in Pool 3 after gaining a crucial defensive point away to last year's runners-up Leicester Tigers.

The only disappointment for Stade owner Max Guazzini was that the match had to be moved from Brussels to Paris due to a frozen pitch, thus depriving Belgium the honour (temporarily at least) of becoming the 10th country to host a Heineken Cup match. Further opportunities will undoubtedly arise in the future, but the most important thing for Stade was to achieve the twin-goals of winning while also denying Ulster a defensive point.

Heineken Cup Pools & Fixtures

In the end they did so comfortably, with fly-half Lionel Beauxis kicking 19 points on an afternoon when he registered a 100% success rate, while hookers Dimitri Szarzewski and replacement Benjamin Kayser both claimed tries to underline the home side's forward domination.

Beauxis landed four first-half penalties and also converted Szarzewski's try as Stade opened up a 19-9 interval lead. The hosts continued to pile on the points after the break and were 29-9 before David Trimble's late score narrowed the eventual margin to 29-16.

The Parisians are now very much in the box seat in Pool 4, with a home game against basement boys Bath in the next match as they continue their quest to lift Europe's premier trophy in the French capital next June.

Perpignan, however, can wave 'adieu' to any hopes they had of progressing beyond the pool stage as they slumped to a crushing 14-37 home defeat against twice-champions Munster. The French champions had been optimistic of a positive result to open up Pool 1 after outscoring their Munster by three tries to nil in last weekend's narrow 24-23 defeat, but the Catalans were thoroughly outplayed as they slumped to their third defeat in four group games, in a spectacular end to their 23-match unbeaten home run.

It was Perpignan's first Heineken Cup loss at the Stade Aimé Giral in five years - when London Wasps beat them en route to lifting the trophy in 2004 - and one can't help but wonder what impact such a demoralizing loss will have on the squad. And it wasn't as if the scoreline was a distorted one, with Munster rightly gaining the attacking bonus after outscoring their hosts by four tries to one.

The Irish side led 10-9 at half-time thanks to a 23rd-minute try from hooker Denis Fogarty and five points from the boot of Ronan O'Gara, while Perpignan's scoring was restricted to three penalty successes from David Mélé. The latter also missed two further attempts as the home team squandered the opportunity for an interval lead, lapses they were soon made to regret.

Munster edged further ahead when O'Gara slotted three more points shortly after the restart, and Perpignan's increasing frustration took its toll when prop Jerome Schuster was then yellow-carded for a head butt on Denis Leamy. Four minutes later O'Gara followed him to the sin-bin for an off-the-ball tackle, but Munster fared the better with 14 men as Denis Hurley went over for their second try on 58 minutes. Paul Warwick converted in O'Gara's absence to leave it 20-9 with just over 20 minutes to go.

Perpignan briefly raised hopes of a late rally when replacement hooker Guilhem Guirado touched down after a training-ground lineout move, but that merely spurred Munster to yet greater heights as Jean de Villiers and Doug Howlett both went over in the closing stages to underline the visitors' superiority.

"It's a great day for us," beamed Munster captain Paul O'Connell afterwards, while coach Tony McGahan described the victory as "the best away win in my time".

Perpignan's former England prop Perry Freshwater was forced to accept that his team had been outplayed by their Irish opponents. "We're not happy with the performance," he said. "It's been a long time since we have lost by that amount at home. We got taught a lesson, but credit to Munster who played really well," added the veteran front-rower.

Earlier in the weekend, Biarritz scrum-half Dimitri Yachvili scored 23 of his side's 26 points as the Basques beat Newport Gwent Dragons in Llanelli to all but seal a quarter-final berth.

The French side, who went into the clash as the only team still boasting a 100% record, made it four wins from four as they assumed complete command of Pool 2. The result left them with a 13-point advantage over the second-placed Dragons, although either Gloucester or Glasgow could narrow the gap later.

And it was French international Yachvili who ensured the Basques would have a happy Christmas, running in two tries to add to his brace of conversions and hat-trick of penalties. It also left him as the tournament's leading scorer this seas - with 73 points - as Biarritz continued their drive for Heineken success.

The match was originally due to be played at Rodney Parade on Friday evening, but a frozen pitch caused the tie to be switched to the Parc-y-Scarlets and postponed until Saturday afternoon. The wait didn't appear to upset the visitors though, with Yachvili opening their account with a third-minute penalty.

The Dragons fought back with a Richard Fussell breakaway try and James Arlidge penalty, but Yachvili was on target with further kicks to give Biarritz a 9-8 advantage at half time.

Damien Traille's 52nd-minute drop-goal stretched that lead further before Yachvili went over for the first of his tries just eight minutes later, breaking free to score from a lineout as the visitors took control of the match.

The influential scrum-half converted his own try and then did likewise again in the closing stags after intercepting a Dragons pass on his own 22 and racing clear. A one-two with Arnaud Mignardi successfully drew the covering tackle and Yachvili calmly slotted the extras to condemn the Dragons to a 26-8 'home' defeat.

"We are very pleased to get this win," said Man-of-the-Match Yachvili afterwards. "We knew it would be difficult coming to Wales and we expected a strong reaction from the Dragons after last week's game.

"It was not easy because the game was delayed from Friday night so that was a disruption, but I thought we played an intelligent game. We are in a good position in the Pool, but we still have two games to go and we will not stop playing now," he added.

Over in Toulouse, meanwhile, the three-times champions beat Cardiff Blues 23-7 to help vanquish some of the pain of two recent defeats against the Welsh side.

Stade Toulousain skipper Thierry Dusautoir scored his side's only try (after 26 minutes), while scrum-half Frédéric Michalak kicked the remaining 18 points via five penalties and a drop-goal.

The hosts enjoyed plenty of possession in a dominant first half but were only 8-7 up at the interval after Taufa'ao Filise's converted try left the Blues in with a sniff. Stade's elegant full-back Clément Poitrenaud proved a constant threat to the Cardiff defence, three times running back errant kicks more than 50m, and the home side's pressure finally told when Michalak started collecting points after the break.

Andy Powell's 44th-minute sin-bin started the rot, with Michalak kicking the resultant penalty to put Toulouse 10-6 up. A drop-goal soon followed and the hosts maintained the pressure and waited for the mistakes as they inexorably clear.

The result put them five points clear of Cardiff with two games to go, while Sale Sharks - who are also five points behind - entertain bottom-placed Harlequins on Sunday. If the Manchester outfit win that then it looks likes Pool 5 could go to the wire, with Stade's last game away to the Sharks in round 6.

Brive's Heineken misery continued with a 34-13 loss away to London Irish as the former champions slumped to their fourth successive defeat in Pool 6.

It was a marginally better result than last week's 36-3 defeat against the same opposition, but it still leaves the Limousin point-less on their return to a competition they won in 1997.

Once more Brive were the architects of their own downfall, with four players being sin-binned to follow up from last week's ill-tempered game - which resulted in Guillaume Ribes and Arnaud Méla both being suspended by ERC. This week Jamie Noon, Retief Uys, Pat Barnard and Scott Spedding all saw yellow, with London Irish capitalizing to outscore their visitors by four tries to one.

Brive's lone effort came from Guillaume Namy in the 78th minute, but returning England full-back Delon Armitage replied in kind in the dying seconds to ensure London Irish claimed the attacking bonus. Armitage had only been on the pitch for 14 minutes as he made his first appearance in three months following shoulder surgery.

The Exiles' other scorers were Tom Homer, Seilala Mapusua and Elvis Seveali'i, with Chris Malone adding three conversions and two penalties.

In the day's final match a late penalty from Brock James secured Clermont Auvergne a potentially crucial defensive point as they lost 20-15 away to Leicester Tigers.

Scott Hamilton's try just a minute earlier had looked to have cost the French side dearly after the Tigers player ran in from 60m following a James handling error, but the Australian fly-half made amends with his subsequent penalty as Clermont ensured the three-way race for qualifying from Pool 3 will go to the wire.

As things stand they are now level on points with Leicester's 12, while the Ospreys - who travel to Clermont in the next round - lead with 16.

The Tigers were 13-9 up at half time at Welford Road thanks to Anthony Allen's try and eight points from the boot of fly-half Toby Flood. All of Clermont's points came from James in reply, with the visiting fly-half landing two drop-goals and a penalty to keep his side in touch.

Leicester - last year's runners-up - went on to dominate the second period but just couldn't convert their pressure into points. Indeed, James narrowed the gap further with this third successful drop-goal before Hamilton's late try looked to have broken their hearts.

"We knew, above all, we had to come away with something from this game - and we have," said a delighted Clermont coach Vern Cotter afterwards. "I am proud of the way we hit back fast after falling eight points behind minutes from time, and out of the losing bonus point zone," he added.