Top 14: Last-gasp James rescues Clermont; Racing's Wisniewski sinks Stade Toulousain

It was Phillips’ late try which set up Stade’s recent Heineken Cup win in Bath, and the former Newcastle Falcons winger looked to have repeated his feat when he touched down in the corner for his 75^th-minute try on Saturday.

Noel Oelschig converted to make it 19-16, but James’s 80^th-minute penalty saw the teams end level at the end of a thrilling match that also saw yellow cards for Stade’s Scottish full back Hugo Southwell and prop Sylvain Marconnet. Clermont’s Thibault Privat was also sent to the sin-bin.

Clermont had earlier appeared in control while opening  up a 13-3 half-time advantage thanks to Julien Bonaire's 31^st-minute try and a further eight points from James.

Three Oelschig penalties enabled Stade to pull back to 19-12 before Phillips’ late score gave hope of a famous away win. But Clermont, who hadn’t lost at home for over a year, did just enough to ensure that record maintained intact.

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Elsewhere, Racing-Métro 92 notched their biggest scalp since promotion with a 27-20 home win against Stade Toulousain.

The Parisians were 9-3 up at half-time as Jonathan Wisniewski (three out of three penalties) outscored Frédéric Michalak (one from three), but it was Maxime Médard’s 47^th-minute yellow card which really sparked this match into life.

Racing took full advantage of their numerical superiority to run in two tries, with fly-half Wisniewski getting the first and Johnny Leo’o the second as they surged an incredible 24-6 ahead.

But just when they had complete control they were reduced to 14 men themselves following winger Mani Vakaolo’s high tackle on Cédric Heymans. Now it was Stade’s turn to run riot as they amassed 14 points in the ensuing seven minutes with tries from William Servat and Grégory Lamboley both being converted by Michalak. That left the score 24-20, but a famous comeback was thwarted when Wisniewski landed a 73^rd-minute penalty to seal the Racing win, and also complete his own 22-point match haul.

It was the Paris club’s fourth successive win as they continue to impress following promotion. Stade Toulousain, meanwhile, have now lost four and drawn one of their 11 games to date in a stuttering start to the season.

Crisis club Brive – who sacked head coach Laurent Seigne this week - snatched a valuable 14-14 away draw at Bourgoin thanks to Fabrice Estebanez’s late drop-goal. The Brive fly-half – playing in place of the absent Andy Goode – also scored his side’s only try as he completed an excellent kick and chase to touch down in the opening minute of the second half.

That score put Brive 8-3 ahead after a turgid opening half, but Bourgoin battled back to regain the lead thanks to a brace of penalties from former Leeds fly-half Alberto Di Bernardo.

Winger Jean-Francois Coux then extended the advantage to 14-8 with his 64^th-minute try, only for Brive to level the match and earn the draw through an Alexis Palisson penalty (in the 71^st minute) and Estebanez’s late drop-goal (in the 76^th).

It may have been a satisfactory outcome for Ugo Mola’s first game in charge, but Brive still slipped a place to 12^th as they continue to hover just above the drop zone.

Jonny Wilkinson’s replacement Sebastien Fauqué kicked three first-half penalties to help Toulon to a 14-8 win at Bayonne. Winger Christian Loamanu grabbed a second-half try to seal the victory, with Vincent Inigo’s late interception score not enough to save a bad week for the Basques.

Head coach Richard Dourthe was effectively sacked on Thursday, and this latest reverse was their second in succession at home as they continue to flounder in the relegation zone.

Basement club SCA Albi slipped to their 10^th defeat in 11 as they lost 15-18 at home to Montpellier. Twenty-three-year-old Montpol winger Thierry Brana scored two first-half tries to set up the visitors for their first away win of the season, and their second successive victory following last weekend’s 16-9 home triumph over Clermont Auvergne.

In Saturday's evening game Biarritz slipped to a second successive defeat as they went down 14-5 at Montauban.

A Mirko Lozupone try and nine points from the boot of Cedric Rosalen steered the home side into an 14-0 lead before a late Takudzwa Ngwenya score offered Biarritz the chance of a sneaked defensive bonus. But Dimitri Yachvili missed the ensuing conversion, meaning the visitors went away empty-handed.

Pre-weekend leaders Castres led Perpignan 12-0 on Friday night before the defending champions fought back to edge a 17-15 victory that both maintained their 17-match unbeaten run at home and saw them leapfrog their vanquished visitors.

Castres fly-half Romain Teulet kicked four out of four penalties to give them their surprise 12-0 lead after half an hour, but Perpignan’s Jerome Porical at least managed to get his team on the scoresheet before half-time when he slotted a 37^th-minute effort in reply.

The Catalans then turned up the heat after the restart, dominating up front to such an extent that they earned a 48th-minute penalty try, which Porical duly converted. That narrowed the gap to just two points, but Teulet nudged the visitors further ahead with his fifth success just before the hour mark.

At 15-10 up with 20 minutes to go Castres must have been dreaming of a famous victory at the Stade Aimé Giral, but the champions maintained their forwards’ dominance and scored try number two when replacement hooker Guilhem Guirado picked up and drove over from yet another driving maul.

Porical’s touchline conversion gave Perpignan the lead for the first time in the match, and the score remained 17-15 to the end. Teulet tried to snatch it at the death with an injury-time drop-goal attempt, but his effort drifted wide as he and his gallant colleagues were forced to settle for a well-earned defensive bonus.

It was double misery for Castres prop Luc Ducalcon, 25, after he was forced to leave the field in the first-half having suffered sprained ligaments in his right knee. The injury came just days after his maiden call-up to the French national squad and he is now likely to miss the first two of their three forthcoming internationals – against South Africa on November 13 and Samoa on November 21.

Perpignan, by contrast, celebrated the win by regaining top spot.