Stade Francais stun Toulon as Castres keep climbing

European champions Toulon failed to go back to the summit of the French Top 14 table after they were shocked 23-0 by Stade Francais in Paris on Saturday. Bernard Laporte's team had lost top spot to Clermont on Friday after the Vulcans came from behind to win 30-23 at Perpignan. Champions Castres continued their fine form of late -- they have three wins and a draw from their last four matches -- by running in six tries in a 46-16 thrashing of struggling Bayonne, who dropped into the relegation zone. Any sort of victory at the Stade Jean-Bouin would have taken Toulon, who rested many first choice regulars, back above the team they beat in last season's European Cup final. Despite the reverse, Laporte insisted he was not worried. "I'm not concerned, we had a good discussion," he said. "Although at times my morale is at zero, had we scored what we should have scored here, we'd have won." It was the first time Toulon had been blanked out since a stunning 41-0 humiliation at Bordeaux-Begles in February. "On the whole, it was us who had the ball but we conceded two assassin's tries," said Laporte, who was more concerned about keeping some stars fresh for next week's trip to Exeter in the European Cup. But after a turgid first half that featured a single successful penalty from Julien Dupuy, Stade took control after the break. Dupuy added two more place-kicks before fly-half Jules Plisson dived through a gap between France half-back Frederic Michalak and Italy prop Martin Castrogiovanni to score on 58 minutes, with Dupuy kicking the extras. Shorn of England legend Jonny Wilkinson, Toulon were lacking in any sort of creative spark as Michalak failed to inspire, being replaced on the hour mark at fly-half by Australian Matt Giteau. Stade put the gloss on their performance in the final minute as Geoffrey Dumayrou went over with Plisson's replacement Morne Steyn, the South Africa half-back, kicking the conversion. "It really is a great pleasure and it puts us in the top six at the halfway point in the season," said Stade's coach Jeff Dubois. "When we play at this level we have to understand our potential." Castres moved up to third with their victory. Romain Cabannes, New Zealander Daniel Kirkpatrick, Brice Dulin, Marc-Antoine Rallier, Ibrahim Diarra and Romain Martial all crossed for the title-holders while former All Black Joe Rokocoko scored the Basques' try. Grenoble kept Toulouse off the Top 14 summit with a 25-18 success at home. Although Toulouse outscored the hosts with two tries from New Zealander Hosea Gear and Maxime Medard to one from Julien Caminati, Irish scrum-half James Hart kicked 20 points to hand Grenoble victory. Grenoble are seventh, just one point off the top six while Toulouse are in fourth, but level on points with Toulon and Castres. Basement-sitters Biarritz blew a 12-3 lead early in the second half against Bordeaux-Begles before conceding three tries to lose 22-15. Dimitri Yachvili and Takudzwa Ngwenya had put them in the driving seat with scores in the 22nd and 42nd minutes but Bordeaux-Begles came roaring back with Louis-Benoit Madaule (54), Fiji's Metuisela Talebula (64) and Julien Rey crossing the whitewash to inspire them to victory. Biarritz remain eight points from safety. Racing-Metro bounced back from their recent poor form -- they had four defeats from five coming into this match -- with a 17-12 victory over Montpellier. Former France winger Benjamin Fall scored the only try of the game 15 minutes into the second half as Racing stayed in the play-off picture, moving to within three points of Montpellier in the crucial sixth spot. Oyannax moved out of the bottom two with a 26-9 win at home to fellow top flight newboys Brive. On Friday, Fiji centre Noa Nakaitaci, scrum-half Thierry Lacrampe and left-wing Julien Malzieu scored tries for Clermont while the Catalan hosts earned a losing bonus thanks to a penalty try and a score from new France winger Sofiane Guitoune. Wales international fly-half James Hook kicked two conversions and three penalties for Perpignan. Source: AFP