Top 14, r12: Shaun Perry's fireworks sets up Brive win; Castres and Clermont draw 9-9

Former England scrum-half Shaun Perry scored a superb individual try to help beleaguered Brive to a vital 19-14 home win over fellow strugglers Bayonne.

The ex-Bristol player picked up and dummied before running in more than 40m to score in the corner at a tense Stade Amédée Domenech.

His match-winning pyrotechnics confirmed Perry's own taste for November 5th spectaculars - it was on this day three year's ago he scored a 65m debut try for England against the All Blacks.

Bayonne might not quite match up to Dan Carter et al, but the more significance difference between the two games is that Perry ended on the winning side in this one - only Brive's fourth of the season.

The Limousin club went into this match a lowly 12th and having lost three of their last four home games, so it was no surprise that early mistakes blighted their initial efforts. It took a Fabrice Estebanez penalty on 23 minutes to finally settle their nerves.

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The former rugby league player missed with his next attempt, but Perry's solo score soon lifted the home crowd as his individualistic brilliance bought valuable breathing space. Estebanez succeeded with the conversion and a later penalty as Brive went on to open up a 13-0 advantage by half time.

Estebanez kicked another penalty to extend that to 16-0 before a Bayonne fightback brought a nervous finales. First hooker Roumieu ploughed over to reduce the deficit, before Jean-Jo Marmouyet followed suit 12 minutes later to leave the scores 19-14.

But Brive held out for a crucial home win that leaves new head coach Ugo Mola with six points gained from two games in charge.

Second-placed Castres were held 9-9 at home by third-placed Clermont Auvergne, with the latter drawing for the second game in succession after their 19-19 tie at home to Stade Francais at the weekend.

The visitors will probably be the happier with the two points, especially with regular fly-half Brock James sitting out the match because his wife was expecting a baby. Fijian Seremaia Bai kicked two penalties in his place, while full-back Anthony Floch also landed a drop-goal.

Romain Teulet's three penalties accounted for Castres' points, and the home side have now gone six matches without scoring a try. Despite that they remain in the top three with just one more round to go before the halfway point of the regulation season.

Leaders Perpignan picked up a bonus-point home win against Toulon thanks to a first-half penalty try and further scores from Farid Sid and Christophe Manas.

The defending champions eventually won 25-9, but they were helped considerably by Toulon playing with 14 men for 30 minutes following yellow cards for Tom May, Lozada and Matt Henjak - the latter in his last game for Philippe Saint-André's side.

Indeed, it was Henjak's absence that proved the most costly with Toulon conceding two tries during his first-half sin-binning.

Sébastien Fauqué's two penalties and a drop-goal kept them in the hunt for a defensive bonus until the Catalans scored 10 points in the final eight minutes to seal the win.

Stade Toulousain bounced back to winning ways with a thumping 41-3 bonus-point victory over Bourgoin at a sparsely populated Stade Ernest Wallon.

The 17-time champions were in control throughout, opening up a 20-0 lead in the first half hour as they responded positively to Saturday's away defeat at Racing-Métro. Fly-half Jean-Baptiste Elissalde opened the scoring with his 13th-minute penalty before Florian Fritz capitalised on a decisive break by Louis Picamoles to touch down just five minutes later.

Elissalde added the conversion and a later penalty before turning provider for Cedric Heymans to race in for try number two.

The hosts secured the bonus point 13 minutes into the second half when No 8 Picamoles forced his way after a rolling maul, with Elissalde again on target to extend the advantage to 27-0. At that point Toulouse head coach Guy Noves clearly felt his team had done enough and embarked on a round of replacements to rotate his players.

There was still time for Fritz to score his second try and replacement Alberto Vernet Basualdo to add Toulouse's fifth, with Elissalde converting both to complete six successful kicks from six on the night.

French international Francois Trinh-Duc helped Montpellier break new ground for the season with a third successive league win, this time 19-0 at home to Montauban.

Argentine Federico Todeschini opened the hosts scoring with a brace of early penalties before Trinh-Duc scored the game's first try - and his third of the season - on 11 minutes.

Two more Todeschini penalties extended their lead after the break, while winger Thiery Brana twice went close to scoring out wide.

Stade Francais made hard work of dispatching basement boys SCA Albi, eventually winning 23-18 thanks to tries from Pascal Papé and Mark Gasnier. The latter's was his fifth of the season, making the former rugby league star the joint leading scorer in Top 14.

South African Noel Oelschig chipped in with 13 points, but Albi refused to buckle and won a hard-earned defensive bonus despite slipping to their 11th defeat in 12. Five Kevin Boulogne penalties and a Dumitras drop-goal kept them in touch throughout as they battled for honours on a sodden night in the capital. 

Racing-Métro 92 were denied a chance to extend their four-match winning streak when their away game at Biarritz was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.