21 November 2009: Paul Couet-Lannes' late try delivers a rare home defeat for Clermont, Chris Masoe picks up a bonus for Castres and Bayonne return to form in style

Clermont 13 Biarritz 16; Castres 30 Toulouse 10; Bayonne 38 Montauban 13; Bourgoin 20 Montpellier 23; Racing-Metro 20 Stade Francais 18; Toulon 19 Brive 10 Latest league table

If Albi's dramatic win over Perpignan was the shock of the weekend, Biarritz's 16-13 victory at Clermont comes a close second. After being outplayed for most of a game in which they lost three scrums against the head and had only the boot of Dimitri Yachvili to keep them in touch with their hosts, the Basques' full-back Paul Couet-Lannes took a pass from winger Ilikena Bolakoro and raced over in the corner to give Biarritz the lead for the first time in the match.

With 10 minutes to go another win for Clermont looked on the cards. After a tight opening, Benoit Baby scored the first points with a 27th minute try. Cudmore snaffled the ball from a Biarritz line-out, and the ball moved through Willie Wepener, Kevin Senio and Brock James who popped up a pass for Baby to take and race over for the try.

Yachvili closed the gap just before the break, kicking a penalty after Anthony Floch was sent to the sinbin for preventing the Biarritz scrum half from taking a quick tap penalty. But on the stroke of half-time, Yachvili himself was penalised for offside at a scrum, and James stepped up to make it 10-3 from right in front of the posts.

Baby made it 13-3 from the touchline three minutes into the second half and it seemed like Clermont were sleepwalking to victory, Floch even having the nerve to attempt a 60-metre drop goal as soon as he'd returned onto the field of play. A break from Rougerie and chip ahead from Floch saw Biarritz's Nicolas Brusque save a certain try, and with 54 minutes on the clock, Julien Malzieu came in from the wrong side and Yachvili pulled another three points back for the visitors.

Baby wasted a chance to kill off the game when, with Clermont's pack camped 10 metres from the Biarritz line, he opted to chip behind the defence but the move broke down and a long kick downfield set up Biarritz for a spell of pressure which ended with Yachvili kicking a third penalty to make it 13-9 with 10 minutes to go.

With four minutes on the clock, Baby missed a penalty attempt, and from the restart, Benoit August raced into the Clermont half to set up Couet-Lannes' match-winning try.

Castres reached the halfway point of the season in style, claiming a bonus point against an off-colour Toulouse to win 30-10 and move into second place in the table. The hosts were 14-0 up in 12 minutes, Cameron McIntyre racing over from a fourth-minute scrum to open the scoring, and fellow Kiwi Chris Masoe doubling the score after 12 minutes, grounding the ball after a big forwards shove.

McIntyre made it 17-0 after just 15 minutes, and although Freddy Michalak pulled three points back with a penalty when Thomas Sanchou was yellow carded for holding on, but despite the one-player deficit, McIntyre, with the wind behind him kicked a 60-metre penalty to make it 20-3 at the break.

A famous comeback seemed to be in the offing when Byron Kelleher put Michalak over from a ruck three metres out just two minutes into the second half, but Castres hit back immediately, Sanchou scoring an almost identical try up the other end to restore the hosts' two-score lead.

The bonus point was secured after 65 minutes when Masoe claimed his second try, and although Toulouse threatened to deny them the extras - centre Remy Lamerat held up on the line and Donguy going close in the last seconds - Castres held on to join Perpignan on 41 points at the top of the table.

Bayonne bounded out of the relegation zone with a 38-13 thrashing of Montauban, but their first win in six outings was on the cards even before flanker Antoine Battut was sent off on the stroke of half-time for a headbutt on Bayonne lock Rob Linde.

Aviron flanker Jean-Jo Marmouyet opened the scoring on nine minutes after Pepito Elhorga made a counter-attacking run the length of the pitch, offloaded to Sam Berger who fed Marmouyet for the try. Pierre Bernard made it 8-0 with a 30-metre penalty, and Gerber almost added a second try, setting himself up for a chip and chase but losing out by inches to Montauban full-back Johan Dalla-Riva.

In the end it was Montauban who scored next, Jean-Philippe Viard setting up Jean-Emmanuel Cassin for a try that made it 8-7, but the hosts struck back at once. Scott Murray fumbled the ball from the restart, Bayonne scrum-half Cedric Garcia darted down the blindside and fed Marmouyet, who broke through the Montauban defence and put Thibault Lacroix over for the try.

Bernard converted and make it 18-7 going into half-time, but despite Battut's sending off, Montauban struck first, Rosalen kicking a 35-metre drop goal a minute into the second period. Bernard and Rosalen then exchanged penalties before Lacroix added the game-breaking try on 54 minutes. A Rosalen break was ended by Marmouyet, replacement hooker Arnaud Heguy - playing his first match after a six-month lay-off - drew his defender and flipped a pass to Gerber as the centre arrived into the line.

The last 25 minutes saw four yellow cards, first Marmouyet and 'Ban lock Karim Ghezal seeing yellow for post-try handbags, then Nicolas Laffite getting 10 minutes in the sinbin barely 20 seconds after replacing Marmouyet for a punch. And Garcia saw out the last five minutes of the match on the bench after diving into the ruck to stop a threatening Montauban attack.

But having a man down didn't stop the Basques adding a bonus-point try against the run of play. A Montauban attack broke down 20 metres from the tryline, and from the resulting scrum, Manny Edmonds passed to Gerber, who sidestepped opposite number Rida Jahouer and raced 80 metres unchallenged to earn Bayonne the extra point and lift them above Bourgoin on their head-to-head record.

Bourgoin themselves conceded a late try to Montpellier to lose 20-23 at Pierre-Rajon. Prop Eugene van Staden finally put the seal on a long period of Pellier pressure by going over under the posts after the visitors had sucked in Bourgoin's defence with a series of pick-and-goes.

Bourgoin, trailing 10-16 after the break, had pulled themselves back into the lead with a 55th minute penalty try, awarded for repeated collapsing by the Montpellier scrum. Sebastien Laloo added the conversion and a 73rd minute drop goal only for Van Staden to strike late on and plunge Bourgoin into the drop zone.

Wessel Jooste had scored the first try of the game on 11 minutes, Mickael Forest bursting out of his own 22, Rudi Coetzee carry the ball on and giving countryman Jooste five metres of work to do to finish off the move successfully.

A conversion and penalty for Laloo to three Federico Todeschini penalties gave Bourgoin a 10-9 half-time lead, but Montpellier took the game to the hosts in the second half, Todeschini setting up a 47th minute try for Jean-Mathieu Alcade that set up an exciting finale.

There was another exciting finish to the first top-flight Parisian derby since Max Guazzini was hogging all the pink crayons at nursery school. Ollie Phillips gave Stade Francais a third-minute lead with the opening try, but Racing-Metro's Jonathan Wisniewski closed the gap with two penalties before Sereli Bobo's successful chip and chase earned the hosts an 11-7 lead with just 20 minutes on the clock.

Noel Oelschig's two penalties made it 13-11 to Stade at the interval, but two drop-goals from Wisniewski anda 50-metre penalty for Francois Steyn gave Racing a lead that they weren't going to lose. Not that Stade didn't give it their all, and on 66 minutes Mark Gasnier burst through the Racing defence, Oelschig changed the direction of play, Phillips drew his man and timed the perfect pass to Mathieu Bastareaud, playing No.8 for the day but as dangerous as ever.

Oelschig missed the chance to tie the scores, and with five minutes to go, Steyn could have settled Racing nerves with a 50-metre penalty, but his howitzer was off target and it took an enormous effort from the home scrum to deny Stade a drop-goal shot in the dying seconds. Stade pick up a bonus point but Racing - who have now won two matches more than their neighbours - earn six months' worth of local bragging rights.

Toulon picked up an unconvincing but comfortable 19-10 home win over Brive to climb to fifth place. The only doubt of a second half that saw the visitors down to 14 men for 30 minutes was whether Brive would pick up a bonus point, but despite a late concerted effort, Toulon held on to a nine-point lead and Brive find themselves just a point above the drop zone.

No.8 Fotu Auelua, making only his second start of the season, scored Toulon's only try 20 minutes in, Sonny Bill Williams delivering the pass that put the Samoan into the gap, and Auelua managing to ground the ball despite a last-ditch tackle from Alexis Palisson.

Brive's Christian Short was yellow carded at the end of the first half, but the visitors overcame the deficit to make headway into the Toulon half and eventually send flanker Simon Azoulai for a try which levelled the scores.

But just as Brive were getting back into the game, Ron Cooke replaced Short in the bin, and during the centre's absence Sebastien Fauqué kicked two penalties, and when prop Arnaud Mela also saw yellow for a punch after his team had won a kickable penalty, Argentinan Felipe Contepomi made his bow for Toulon and sealed his Top 14 debut a 73rd minute penalty that put the extra point out of Brive's reach.