Stade Toulousain ran up 23 unanswered points in the second half as the rallied from 11-16 down against Stade Francais to win 34-16 at the Stade Municipal on Saturday night.

The victory was richly deserved after an entertaining encounter featuring four tries and five yellow cards, and it lifted Guy Noves' team to the summit of Top 14 after a bizarre weekend of results.

Toulouse's Florian Fritz and Stade Francais' Laurent Sempere had both been temporarily banished by the time William Servat claimed the opening try of the match on 16 minutes, and the hosts appeared to be heading for a convincing half-time lead thanks to the addition of a couple of penalties.

Stade Toulousain v Stade Francais Picture Gallery By Cleva Media

But a 33rd-minute yellow for Yannick Jauzion paved the way for a 13-point burst in seven minutes from Martin Rodriguez, the Parisians' Argentine fly-half. It began with two penalties (in the 34th and 39th minutes) and culminated with an injury time try which he then converted.

That left a shocked Stade Toulousain 11-16 down at the break after largely dominating the match, and Noves clearly made his thoughts clear during the interval. He also sent on Nicolas Bézy for Vilimone Delasau, enabling Jauzion to move back to his normal central position.

Bézy immediately got into the action with two quickfire penalties before winger Maxime Médard scorched in for Toulouse's second try on 48 minutes - and his third of the season.

The visitors then saw Juan Manuel Leguizamon sin-binned for a high tackle on Thierry Dusautoir before Vincent Clerc added Toulouse's third try to complete the convincing win that left them level with Clermont at the top of the league.

Traditional poor travellers Montpellier belied their reputation to pull off a stunning 6-16 away win at Perpignan on Saturday.

The Catalans had previously won all 13 of their home games last season, were undefeated at the Stade Aimé Giral in almost two years and began this campaign by downing champions Clermont, but Montpellier proved a tougher nut to crack under the guidance of new head coach Fabien Galthié.

Perpignan opened the scoring when Kevin Boulogne - the latest player to try their apparently cursed fly-half position - slotted a 14th-minute penalty, and the former Albi player added a second just before the break to leave them 6-3 ahead the interval.

Montpellier's Benjamin Thiéry landed an opportune drop-goal for the visitors two minutes after the restart - adding to an earlier penalty from Martin Bustos Moyana - and the match remained 6-6 until 53rd minute.

Montpellier had brought on their big guns by then as they sensed an historic win, with French internationals Fulgence Ouedraogo and Francois Trinh-Duc both entering the fray. Shortly after Moyano fired them in front with his second penalty success, before Trinh-Duc sealed the win with a 75th-minute try after a period of prolonged forward pressure by their now dominant pack.

Moyano converted to leave Montpellier 6-16 winners, with Perpignan ruing not just the defeat, but the absence of even a defensive point as two Boulogne misses proved costly.

Previously pointless SU Agen finally opened their league account as former Biarritz fly-half Valentin Courrent starred in their 28-23 victory against his previous club.

Courrent landed six out of six penalty attempts in the first half as Agen opened up an 18-3 advantage in their first home game of the season. Injury-hit Biarritz were sorely lacking the services of injured duo Dimitri Yachvili and Damien Traille, with former England full-back Iain Balshaw pushed into emergency service as a surprise fly-half.

Biarritz emerged energized after the break and a period of forward domination eventually led to a penalty try on 48 minutes, which Marcelo Bosch converted. The Argentine added a penalty shortly after to leave the Basques 18-13 down, but Agen replied in the best possible way when American winger Kevin Swiryn scored their second try after an 85m counter-attack.

Courrent, inevitably, landed the conversion to take his personal tally to 20 points, while the hosts moved 25-13 ahead overall.

Biarritz eventually managed a response of note when French international Imanol Harinordoquy bundled over from close range with nine minutes remaining. Substitute Jean-Pascal Barraque kicked the conversion and a subsequent penalty to set up a frantic finale, but Courrent's seventh penalty success eased nerves as Agen held out for their hard won victory.

The defeat completed a miserable week for Biarritz, which started with home defeat by Toulon and continued with a will he/won't he resignation saga surrounding forwards coach Jean-Michel Gonzalez.

Agen's win was their first since returning to Top 14 this season, and it was a good afternoon for the other club promoted for ProD2 in the summer as La Rochelle beat Bourgoin 20-12 in what could turn out to be a crucial encounter come the end of this season.

The 'Maritimers' surprised many with their opening-round home win against Castres, and they made it two out of two at the Stade Marcel Deflandre on Saturday as full-back Sebastien Boboul continually punished the ill-disciplined Bourgoin defence.

Boboul landed five out of five penalty attempts to steer his side to victory, with the other five points coming via scrum-half Benjamin Ferrou's second try of the season. The 32-year-old stole in on 28 minutes as he touched down in the corner after breaking down the blindside following sustained forward pressure from the hosts.

Leading try and point-scorers in Top 14

But while La Rochelle were left celebrating their continuing good start to life in Top 14 the problems are beginning to mount for Bourgoin. The Isere club began the season in financial uncertainty and is now the only side left in Top 14 not to have registered a point. Indeed, they have yet to even score a try as they were once more reliant on Alberto Di Bernardo's boot for all of their points.

Surprise early pace-setters Bayonne finally came unstuck as they let a 9-16 half-time lead slip at Castres, eventually going down 25-16 as they were kicked to distraction by Romain Teulet.

The indefatigable full-back kicked six penalties and a conversion as he celebrated passing the remarkable tally of 2,000 points for Castres. 'Robocop' actually missed his first attempt early in the first period and it was Bayonne who started brighter thanks to a ninth-minute try from flanker Jean-Jo Marmouyet. Scrum-half Cédric Garcia added the conversion and three penalties as they opened up a 9-16 half-time lead, with Castres' points coming via three Teulet penalties in nine minutes before the break.

The game's turning point, however, came in the 59th minute when Sérémaia Bai launched France winger Marc Andreu with a huge kick from defence. Andreu utilises his considerable footballing skills to control the ball before going on to score under the posts, paving the way for Teulet to convert and level the scores.

The Castres full-back added three more penalties in the closing stages to seal the win as Bayonne paid the price for the gallant first-half effort. 

Champions Clermont Auvergne, meanwhile, required a strong second-half performance to finally see off derby rivals Brive 33-9.

Fit-again winger Julien Malzieu touched down for 'Les Jaunards'  after half an hour, but tenacious Brive were only 13-6 down at half time and stayed in contention until Elvis Vermeulen added Clermont's second try after 55 minutes. South African centre Marius Joubert added their third 11 minutes from time to seal the attacking bonus, with the combined boots of Brock James and Morgan Parra contributing a further 18 points for the champions.

Toulon suffered a second successive home defeat on Friday night as they were beaten 31-36 by Racing-Métro 92, despite England fly-half Jonny Wilkinson kicking 26 points for the hosts.

Toulon were outscored by three tries to one, and indeed only managed a defensive bonus thanks to a 73rd-minute score from Juan Sebastien Lobbe and a massive 57m penalty from Wilkinson three minutes from time.

Until then it looked as if Racing would be going home not only with the win, but with an attacking bonus to boot after tries of their own from from Antoine Battut, Andrea Masi and Sireli Bobo.

The warning signs were there for Toulon right from the off as Racing won the first scrum with a huge push that resulted in a penalty and three early points from fly-half Jonathan Wisniewski. Wilkinson replied in kind in the sixth minute, but Racing surged ahead again shortly after when flanker Battut touched down for the opening try.

To make matters worse for Toulon they also saw fit-again skipper Joe Van Niekerk yellow carded for a high-tackle on Battut that the Racing man managed to withstand before scoring. Wisniewski's conversion made it 3-10 and the visitors stayed ahead for the rest of an error-strewn but pulsating encounter.

Wilkinson and Wisniewski continued to trade kicks up until the half-time interval, at which point Racing led 12-16 but were down to 14 men after Italian centre Andrea Masi was sent to the sin-bin on the half hour mark.

But Masi soon made amends after the restart and the international was on hand to finish off a superb midfield break initiated by full-back Benjamin Fall after a misdirected Wilkinson chip. Again Wisniewski kicked the extras, to leave Pierre Berbizier's side leading 12-23.

Wilkinson's unerring boot managed to keep Toulon in touch as he landed further penalty successes in the 45th, 48th and 55th minutes, but Racing then landed the killer blow when veteran winger Sireli Bobo ran back a 50m intercept for the Parisians' third try of the evening. Wisniewski, needless to say, added the extras to give Racing a 12-point cushion, and that was extended further when substitute Juan Martin Hernández landed a penalty to claim his first points for his new club.

Toulon threw everything they had at Racing in a late effort to salvage pride and flanker Juan Sebastien Lobbe eventually went over seven minutes from time after pressure at a 5m scrum. Wilkinson's conversion narrowed the gap to eight points and he then boomed over a 57m-penalty three minutes from time to at least earn them a defensive bonus.

But his sterling efforts could not prevent Toulon slipping to their second successive home defeat after having previously gone 18 months undefeated at the Stade Félix Mayol. It is the first time such a double reverse has happened since president Mourad Boudjellal took over in 2006, but he tried to remain upbeat despite this latest defeat.

"There wasn't much to make me smile," he admitted, "but we will go to La Rochelle next and try to take the four points there. I have confidence in the team at the moment and we are not going to draw too many conclusions because we have lost twice at home."

Racing coach Berbizier was understandably delighted by his team's performance after they registered their second win in three away games after a tough start to the 2010/11 campaign. "It's always important for a team to win at Toulon, a place where I haven't won very often. It's a great satisfaction for everyone," he said.

Berbizier's joy was also enhanced by the sight of seeing Hernandez in action in Racing's colours for the first time since his summer transfer. "It gives me a lot of pleasure, and I believe the team also," he added.