19-year-old Jean-Marc Doussain scores the winning try for Stade Toulousain against Biarritz Olympique Photo: Eoin Mundow/Cleva Media

Nineteen-year-old jean-Marc Doussain was Stade Toulousain's saviour as his late try saw them come from behind to beat Biarritz 23-19.

Up until then it appeared that Biarritz would pull off their first win in Toulouse for 10 years thanks to an opportunistic early try from Iain Balshaw, and 14 points from the boot of Julien Peyrelongue.

Balshaw pounced on a poor pass from Nicolas Vergallo in the 10th minute, using his dribbling skills to get over the line before touching down for his fifth try of the season for the Basques.

Peyrelongue added the conversion to an earlier penalty to put Biarritz 10-0 up in a re-run of last season's Heineken Cup final - and a preview of their forthcoming quarter-final in April.

Many of the faces from those two meetings were absent at a sold out Stade Ernest Wallon on Saturday - due to international duties - but Toulouse got themselves back in the match once Frédéric Michalak kicked a 16th-minute penalty.

Temporary full-back Cédric Heymans then touched down on 26 minutes, with Michalak's conversion leaving it all square at 10-10.

Peyrelongue and Michalak traded penalties to leave it 13-13 at half time before the former kicked two more after the break to set up the tense finale.

Stade were still trailing 19-13 with 11 minutes to play when Nicolas Bézy - last weekend's hero - launched an up-and-under which caused havoc in the Biarritz defence which Doussain capitalized on to score his maiden try for Toulouse.

Bézy's conversion gave the hosts the lead for the first time in the match, and the 21-year-old scrum-half went on to add a 76th-minute penalty to seal the victory which ensured Toulouse remained seven points clear at the summit of Top 14.

Top 14 League Table

Friday 18 February 2011
Brive                         (match report)	26	Stade Francais	10
Saturday 19 February 2011
Bourgoin	15	Perpignan	32
La Rochelle	24	Racing-Métro 92	32
Clermont Auvergne	24	Bayonne	19
Castres	43	Montpellier	29
Stade Toulousain	23	Biarritz	19
SU Agen	23	Toulon	13

Tries from Jacques Cronje and Henry Chavancy helped Racing-Métro 92 win 32-24 at La Rochelle on Saturday as they consolidated second spot.

The Parisians were made to work hard for their reward all afternoon, and the home side came within a whisker of claiming a defensive bonus at the death following Norman Ligairi's last-minute try.

La Rochelle full-back Benjamin Dambielle had already contributed 19 of his side's points, but his final act of the match was a missed conversion which cruelly denied the hosts their losing bonus.

Dambielle's four first-half penalties had earlier kept the 'Maritimers' in touch after Cronje plunged over in the 19th minute following excellent work by Fijian winger Sireli Bobo.

Fly-half Jonathan Wisniewski added the conversion and three penalties to put Racing 16-12 up at the break, and two further successful kicks stretched that further to 22-12 after 56 minutes.

But just when it appeared Racing were pulling clear La Rochelle displayed just why they have proved such a hard unit to beat on home turf this season. Dambielle's 64th-minute try (after television replays) was converted by the ebullient full-back himself, and suddenly there were just three points between the two sides heading into the closing stages.

The decisive score followed soon after, however, when Argentine Juan Martin Hernandez, playing in the centres, perfectly teed up Chavancy to run in. Wisniewski again added the extras, and a 70th-minute penalty for good measure, before Ligairi's late reply in a dramatic climax after Jacobus Grobler (La Rochelle) and Andrea Lo Cicero (Racing) had both seen yellow for squaring up.

The win for Racing meant the Paris side moved four points clear in second position as Montpellier - their pre-weekend nearest rivals - went down 43-29 away to Castres.

Paying spectators got full value for their money at the Stade Pierre Antoine as the two sides combined to score nine tries and 72 points in a hugely entertaining game.

Castres led for all but two minutes once Romain Teulet had kicked them into a third-minute lead, but there was rarely more than one score between the teams as Montpellier battled gamely to stay in contention.

Iain Balshaw scores for Biarritz against Stade Toulousain at a sold out Stade Ernest Wallon Photo: Eoin Mundow/Cleva Media

Castres prop Yannick Forrestier got the game's first try when he went over in the eighth minute, but Montpellier replied in kind on the quarter hour as skipper Fulgence Ouedraogo crossed to score his fourth of the season. Argentine winger Martin Bustos Moyano slotted the conversion to leave it 8-7, before Castres bounced back with Marc Andreu scoring in the corner.

Bustos Moyano then went over for Montpellier, and added the conversion too as the visitors briefly took the lead before Andreu doubled up for his second try of the half. Teulet's conversion made it 20-14, and the Castres full-back added a 35th-minute penalty to further stretch the advantage, only for Montpellier hooker Mickael Ladhuie to touch down just before the break.

Castres looked to have the match in the bag when winger Yoan Audrin claimed their fourth try just two minutes after the restart, but Montpellier refused to lie down and came back with yet another score thanks to substitute Pierre Berard on 50 minutes. Moyano's conversion left Montpellier trailing 30-26, and each side then traded a penalty apiece before Montpol's resistance finally fell following a 70th-minute yellow card for Vassili Bost.

Castres used their advantage immediately to win a 72nd-minute penalty-try, with Teulet going on to kick the conversion and a later penalty to leave the final score 43-29, and his own personal tally at 18.

The win maintained Castres' 100% home record in Top 14 this season, making it a perfect 10 wins from 10 as they continue to push for the play-offs. Montpellier, meanwhile, slipped below Clermont Auvergne into fourth position after 'Les Jaunards' beat in-form Bayonne 24-19.

Leading try and point-scorers in Top 14

The visiting Basques went into the match having won six of their last seven league games, and they were soon 10-0 ahead thanks to an early try from South African full-back Joe Pietersen and five points from the boot of Benjamin Boyet.

Clermont finally got on the board courtesy of a 19th-minute penalty from Brock James, and they were back on level terms four minutes later after he converted a try from Italian centre Gonzalo Canale.

Boyet then kicked two more penalties for Bayonne before Clermont capitalized on flanker Dwayne Haare's yellow card to score try number two through Benoît Baby. James was off target with the conversion this time, however, leaving the defending champions trailing 16-15 at the break.

The score remained like until 15 minutes from time as Bayonne threatened to become the first team to win at the Stade Marcel Michelin this season, before James struck another penalty to give Clermont the lead for the first time in the match. Once more it came when Bayonne were down to 14 men, after centre Thibault Lacroix had been yellow-carded this time.

An untimely knock-on prevented Baby adding his second try of the afternoon before James and Boyet traded a penalty each to leave it 21-19 going into the final minute. The Basques tried everything they could to pull off a shock win, but ultimately it was Clermont who got the final score as James kicked his fourth successful penalty in the 80th minute to seal the hard-fought victory.

Elsewhere, Perpignan won 32-15 at basement club Bourgoin, but failed in their aim of claiming the attacking bonus as they were restricted to just two tries.

Winger Julien Candelon set them on their way when he touched down in the game's fourth minute, but already doomed Bourgoin battled doggedly throughout, with debutant Gaetan Germain landing five out of six penalty attempts on his maiden first-team appearance.

The fifth of those came in the 46th minute and brought Bourgoin to within four points of the 2009 champions, before Jérome Porical replied with his own fifth and sixth successes to ease the Catalans clear.

The 77th-minute sin-binning of Bourgoin replacement Vincent Pelo then paved the way for a late penalty try for Perpignan, but Jacques Brunel's team will be disappointed not to have left with the attacking bonus as they sought to make up ground in their chase for a play-off berth.

Bourgoin, meanwhile, have now lost 10 on the spin in Top 14, and 17 from 19 games in total this campaign. 

There was a major shock in the weekend's final game as SU Agen pulled off a crucial 23-13 home win against star-studded Toulon, with Philippe Saint-André's departing without even losing bonus to their name.

Former Toulon fly-half Conrad Barnard got the home side going with an eighth-minute penalty before skipper Adri Badenhorst touched down midway through the first half. Barnard's opposite number Jonny Wilkinson was given special dispensation to play in this match but the England international suffered a rare off day, missing with several penalty attempts and generally falling below his usual high standards.

He did manage two successful penalties in the first half, but Toulon were already way behind by the break after flanker Jean Monribot caught a Barnard up-and-under to flatten between the posts on 34 minutes.

Barnard's conversion made left it 20-6 at the break, although Agen were temporarily down to 14 men by then following a yellow card for Saimone Vaka for taking out an airborne Wilkinson.

But such was Agen's defence they didn't concede a single point while short-manned, and continued to disrupt Toulon's lineout throughout as visiting hooker Jean-Charles Orioli experienced a torrid evening with his throw-ins. Perhaps it was the presence of former Toulon lock Dewald Senekal in the Agen line that put him off.

Toulon did eventually get a try when replacement scrum-half Matt Henjak touched down in the 67th minute - just two minutes after coming on - with Wilkinson's conversion bringing the visitors back to within seven points.

Barnard replied with a 72nd-minute penalty, but Toulon could still have claimed the losing bonus if Wilkinson had managed to slot a 77th-minute effort of his own. Sadly for the visitors, however, it fell short.

The win lifted Agen out of the relegation zone, at La Rochelle's expense, with Toulon falling from fourth to eighth as the scramble for play-off places becomes more fraught by the week. Just four points now separate third-placed Clermont from eighth-placed Toulon - so this could prove a crucial missed opportunity for Saint-André's team.