A second-half yellow card for Pascal Papé proved decisive as Montpellier ran in 17 unanswered points en route to a 29-23 victory over Stade Francais on Sunday night.

Stade Francais were leading 20-12 at the time of Papé's indiscretion, which came in the 63rd minute, but their advantage was swiftly wiped out as Montpellier seized their opportunity.

A 65th-minute penalty try, converted by Martin Bustos-Moyano, brought them back to within a point, before Georgian prop Giorgi Jgenti powered over three minutes later. Bustos-Moyano was again on target with the extras, while fly-half Francois Trinh-Duc then landed a penalty on 72 minutes to leave the hosts 29-20 ahead.

Stade fly-half Lionel Beauxis did manage a penalty back for the visitors four minutes from time, but the losing bonus was not enough to end their already slim hopes of making the play-offs.

This latest defeat was their 11th in 22 league games and left them nine points adrift of sixth-placed Perpignan with just four matches to play. Their focus now will be on winning the Amlin Challenge Cup to try and secure Heineken Cup rugby for next season, but they must overcome Montpellier in the quarter-finals first - although that match will at least be played on home turf.

For much of Sunday's game it appeared that Stade Francais might pull off a notable away win as they sought to end Montpellier's season-long unbeaten record at the Stade Yves du Manoir.

Julien Dupuy and Bustos-Moyano kicked three penalties apiece to leave it 9-9 heading into the interval, only for England flanker James Haskell to touch down for the visitors right on the stroke of half time.

Their 14-9 lead was further extended when Beauxis slotted a 45th-minute penalty and a 53rd-minute drop-goal - leaving them 20-12 ahead as Bustos-Moyano kicked his fourth penalty of the evening - but then Papé was sin-binned as Montpellier applied sustained goal-line pressure.

Fabien Galthié's side climbed to fifth on the back their win in an increasingly congested play-off zone. As things stand there are just five points separating five teams, with Castres 3rd on 63 points and defending champions Clermont Auvergne seventh on 58, while Montpellier are fifth on 61.

Top 14 League Table 2010/11

On Saturday, Racing-Métro 92 beat leaders Stade Toulousain 43-21 as they marked their first 'home' game at the Stade de France with a memorable bonus-point win.

Fly-half Jonathan Wisniewski kicked 28 of his team's points with six penalties, two drop-goals and a pair of conversions, while Johnny Leo'o, Julien Saubade and second-half replacement Sébastien Chabal all went over for tries.

Toulouse were reliant on the boot of scrum-half Frédéric Michalak for all of their points, but his seven penalties weren't even enough to earn a losing bonus.

It was the second unhappy trip to the national stadium for Toulouse this season, following their previous 31-3 loss there to Stade Francais.

It also meant their six-point pre-weekend lead was stripped down to just one, with successive away games at Perpignan and Toulon to come.  

Biarritz completed the league derby over Basque neighbours and rivals Bayonne with an emphatic 40-10 victory at the Estadio Anoeta in San Sebastian on Saturday.

The 'home' side surged into an early lead thanks to Marcelo Bosch's third-minute try, and never looked back as they hammered Bayonne.

Fit-again scrum-half Dimitri Yachvili knocked over the conversion, and was on target again just four minutes later when fly-half Julien Peyrelongue - playing in a record 16th Basque derby - went over for try number two.

Benjamin Boyet did manage to pull a penalty back for the visitors, but Biarritz replied in kind through Yachvili before Damien Traille landed an opportunist drop-goal to make it 20-3. Bayonne lock Ross Filipo briefly raised hopes of a fight-back when he touched down on 21 minutes, but Biarritz immediately bounced back with another try of their own - this time from  club captain Imanol Harinordoquy as he latched on to a Yachvili chip.

And it continued to get worse for Bayonne. Yachvili once more added the extras to make it 27-10, before American speedster Takudzwa Ngwenya raced in from 40m for the hosts' fourth try in the opening 33 minutes. Yachvili's conversion left it 34-10 to Biarritz at the interval, with the second half a calmer affair as the home team took time out to enjoy the festivities.

Yachvili did land two more penalties, to take his match tally to 17 points, as Biarritz moved up to fourth spot on the back of their bonus-point win.

Earlier, SU Agen and Brive were the big winners in the ongoing three-way dog fight to stay in Top 14.

Agen stunned defending champions Clermont Auvergne with a 26-17 victory that made it four on the spin at the Stade Armandie for last season's ProD2 champions.

Agen were momentarily stunned when France scrum-half Morgan Parra stole in for the visitors after just three minutes, but they soon replied with interest as Conrad Barnard kicked a sixth-minute penalty before going on to add the conversion to Jean Monribot's eighth-minute try.

The frenetic pace kept up with Barnard adding a 17th-minute penalty before Tongan number eight scored Agen's second try just one minute later.

Barnard was again on the money with the extras as Agen surged 20-7 clear with less than a quarter of the game gone.

The home side briefly lost momentum when full-back Sylver Tian was sin-binned on 34 minutes, with Parra kicking a penalty back to send Clermont into the break trailing 20-10.

Two more Barnard penalties - on 42 and 58 minutes - extended Agen's lead to 26-10 before Samoan George Pisi went over for his second try and two starts for Clermont following his signing as a "medical joker" for country-mate Gavin Williams.

Brock James - on as a second half substitute - added the conversion, but the Australian fly-half hit a post with a late penalty which would have at least secured 'Les Jaunards' a losing bonus.

The defeat also continued Clermont's woeful away form this season, with this being their ninth successive loss on their travels in Top 14. Indeed, they have only beaten already relegated Bourgoin away from home all season. 

Brive were also victorious as they battered basement club Bourgoin 50-6, running in seven tries as they condemned the doomed visitors to their 13th successive league defeat.

French international Fabrice Estebanez set the ball rolling with his opening effort on 12 minutes, with full-back Julien Caminati also crossing before the break.

Replacement centre Guillaume Namy went over for Brive on 50 minutes, with South African lock Retief Uys adding their fourth on the hour mark, shortly before being stretchered off unconscious.

Brive went on to add three more tries in the final 10 minutes, with Caminati getting his second of the afternoon before Argentine scrum-half Agustin Figuerola and French winger Alexis Palisson both touched down to help bring up the half century.

La Rochelle are the third club in that fight to avoid dropping down with Bourgoin, but their Saturday afternoon was ruined by a rampaging first-half from Catalan giants Perpignan as they went down 34-16. The visitors ran in four tries in the opening 35 minutes, with recent signing Rudi Coetzee grabbing two. Winger Julien Candelon and hooker Guilhem Guirado got the others as the 2009 champions continued their recent revival with a fifth consecutive league win.

Perpignan eased off the gas in the second half, but still managed a fifth try with winger Adrien Plante going over after 65 minutes.

La Rochelle number eight Thomas Soucaze went over for a late consolation score two minutes from time, but it was Perpignan - who pocketed a valuable attacking bonus - who went away in joyful mood as they continued their late push for a play-off spot.

All those results combined to leave La Rochelle now accompanying Bourgoin in the relegation zone, with Brive and Agen (who are due to meet on the final day of the season) just keeping their heads above water. La Rochelle now travel to Brive for their next match in a game that could prove decisive in determining who stays and who goes.

Leading scorers in Top 14 2010/11