Top 14, round 19: Tight at the top as Stade Francais and Perpignan close on Toulouse

Just one point now separates the top three teams after Stade Francais ran in eight tries against struggling Bourgoin to claim maximum points on Saturday afternoon.

The Paris club climbed back into second position, just one point behind Stade Toulousain after the latter's 32-8 defeat at third-placed Perpignan on Friday evening.

Top 14 table

The Paris club welcomed back most of their international stars – in contrast to Toulouse – and ran in four tries in either half as they outclassed their bedazzled opponents.

Alexandre Albouy, Juan Manuel Leguizamon, Mathieu Bastareaud, Mark Gasnier, Mirco Bergamasco, Julien Saubade (2) and Geoffroy Messina all got on the scoresheet, with fit-again fly-half Lionel Beauxis adding five conversions and a penalty as Stade Francais underlined why they are currently Top 14’s leading points-scorers.

Prop David Attoub’s 77^th-minute sending off – for a second yellow card – was the only blot on their copybook as they took full toll of Toulouse's defeat.

Bourgoin's defeat, by contrast, was their heaviest of the season and leaves them just three points above the relegation zone.

Fourth-placed Clermont lost ground on the top three with their 18-14 defeat at Biarritz.

Dimitri Yachvili kicked five penalties and Damien Traille a drop-goal as the hosts continued their recent return to form, although Clermont will be ruing a defeat where they outscored their victors by two tries to nil.

Scrum-half John Senio scored both - in the 30th and 46th minutes - but it only proved sufficient for Les Jaunards to earn a defensive bonus point as they slipped to their eighth defeat of the season.

Bayonne also lost ground following their 3-3 draw away to Toulon. Cedric Garcia's seventh-minute penalty put the visitors ahead, but Conrad Barnard equalised 12 minutes later and that was that as far the scoring went at Stade Felix Mayol.

The draw secured Toulon another two useful points - lifting them five clear of the relegation zone - but Bayonne are now down to sixth after in-form Brive came back from a 12-0 half-time deficit to win 17-15 at Dax.

Fly-half Antoine Vignau-Tuquet kicked four penalties in the opening half hour as the hosts surged ahead, but two tries in four minutes after the restart put paid to their 12-point lead.

First it was Welsh full-back Barry Davies who went over to give Brive renewed hope in the 44th minute, before scrum-half and fellow countryman Liam Davies made it a try-double just two minutes later.

Fly-half Luciano Orquera - starting in place of Andy Goode - celebrated his recall to the Italian squad by kicking both conversions and a later penalty to earn the win. Goode did eventually come on after an hour, but missed his only penalty attempt.

Vignau-Tuquet had the opportunity to make both him and Brive pay when he lined up an 83rd-minute penalty to steal the points, but his 50m effort fell short and the visitors continued with a run that has now seen them move to within five points of Clermont after just one defeat in their last 10 league games. 

Dax, by sharp contrast, remain in 13^th position after their seventh successive defeat, although they did at least close the gap on Bourgoin thanks to a defensive bonus point.

Elsewhere, Montpellier made light of their midweek sacking of long-serving coach Didier Nourault with a resounding 33-6 home win against basement club Mont-de-Marsan.

French internationals Francois Trinh-Duc (2), Fulgence Ouedraogo and Louis Picamoles all scored tries, with Michel Macurdy adding the other as they recorded a welcome bonus-point victory after losing six of their previous eight league games.

Trinh-Duc, who enjoyed a profitable recall to the French side against Wales following injury to Beauxis, capped an excellent day for the Mediterranean team by adding three conversions to his brace of tries, for a match haul of 16 points.

Castres were the day's other big winners as they eased themselves clear of the drop zone with a 31-19 home win against Montauban, despite being outscored by three tries to one.

Fly-half Romain Teulet was their hero, kicking six penalties and a drop-goal, to go along with prop Carl Hoeft’s 28^th-minute try.

The home side, who had previously won just four times, raced into a 25-0 lead after just half an hour as they seemed intent on impressing their future coaches - the Montauban duo of Laurent Labit and Laurent Travers, who will take over in the summer.

But it wasn't all plain sailing as tries from Miguel Avramovic and Sylvain Jonnet either side of half-time ensured a more evenly contested second period. Full-back Johan Dalla Riva added the third try shortly before the final whistle - while Castres' Steve Kefu was in the sin-bin - but the visitors just failed in their quest for that most remarkable of things - an attacking bonus point despite losing.