5 December 2009: Parisians break Stade de France jinx, USAP find their form and leaders Castres fall at Bourgoin

Stade Francais 34 Bayonne 10; Perpignan 29 Montpellier 3; Bourgoin 16 Castres 9 - Latest league table

Stade Francais got back to winning ways at Stade de France with a bonus-point 34-10 victory over Bayonne.

Although the Basque visitors took an early lead, the match was effectively over by half-time, Benjamin Kayser, Julien Dupuy and Pascal Papé all scoring tries for the Parisians, Lionel Beauxis converting all three tries and adding a pair of penalties for a 27-3 interval lead.

Hooker Kayser scored the pick of the tries on 11 minutes, racing in from 40 metres and dropping four Bayonne tacklers before touching down.

Two minutes later scrum-half Dupuy doubled the score following good work from centre Mathieu Bastareaud and Guillaume Bousses, and on the half-hour Bastareaud put Leguizamon through the Bayonne defence, prop Rodrigo Roncero took the ball on and fed to Papé, who raced over in the corner.

The second half was less notable, Bastareaud wasting a chance to kill off the match when he failed to latch on to a Dupuy pass, and Bayonne winger Vincent Inigo and centre Thibault Lacroix both narrowly missing out on tries when two Craig Gower kicks downfield went dead before they could touch down.

Ultimately, Gower's chip-and-chase tactic bore fruit for the visitors eight minutes from time, Sam Gerber chasing up another kick over the top of the Stade Francais defence to touch down and deny the hosts their bonus point.

But they needn't have worried. Two minutes later replacement centre Geoffroy Messina raced downfield, drew the last defender and Mark Gasnier was on hand to claim his sixth try of the season and the bonus point for Stade Francais. The Parisians leapfrog Biarritz into seventh, while Bayonne slip back into the drop zone.

Perpignan bounced back from the double blow of defeat at Albi and Swine flu to wipe the floor with Montpellier. The catalans chalked up a 29-3 victory over les Heraultais, but had to wait till late in the match before crossing the tryline.

Jerome Porical kicked four first-half penalties for a 12-0 interval lead, and exchanged kicks with Montpellier full back Benjamin Thierry at the start of the second. But on 62 minutes, and with the visitors down to 14 men following a yellow card for Vassili Bost, Montpellier's solid defensive wall broke, Perry Freshwater barging over from five metres.

Five minutes later another five-metre scrum saw the Catalan forwards charge towards the tryline, flanker Yannick Parent scoring the try and Porical adding the extras.

When Bost returned the visitors closed ranks again, keeping it tight and denying Perpignan a third try that would have put the pressure on leaders Castres.

Perpignan are now two points behind Castres with a game in hand after the leaders lost their first game in four away at Bourgoin.

The troubled easterners, whose future is in doubt following financial problems early in the season that have still yet to be resolved, wasted no time in getting off the mark, Benjamin Boyet - himself linked with a move out of the club at the end of the season - kicking a 30-metre drop goal just three minutes in.

Nine minutes in Castres were looking dangerous, No.8 Josefa Tekori catching a Boyet clearance kick and charging downfield, only for his pass to Chris Masoe to be intercepted by Bourgoin centre Willen van Zyl. The South African raced home for the try which Alberto di Bernardo converted.

Castres' Romain Teulet brought it back to 10-6 with two penalties midway through the half, but Bourgoin went closest to another try when a maul crossed the line only for the video referee to notice that the ball was dropped at the last moment.

Di Bernardo extended the lead with a 47-metre penalty on the half-hour, and the teams turned round with Bourgoin 13-6 up.

Castres began the second half determined to extend their lead at the top of the table, Tekori and Marc Andreu making early inroads into the Bourgoin half but failing to break through the claret and blue defence.

The hosts held out, and Di Bernardo added another three points on the hour to temporarily deny Castres a bonus point, but as time ticked away, Castres won a penalty on the halfway line and near the touchline, and Teulet delivered his third penalty and a bonus point for Castres, who still lead the Top 14 but by a vastly reduced margin.