Toulouse remain in fourth place, but only one point ahead of fifth-placed Biarritz.

The Toulousains out-scored their visitors by two tries to one, but David Skréla was magnificent with the boot, landing five penalties before being taken off on the hour mark.

Toulouse led 9-10 at the break, with Yannick Jauzion's early try and Valentin Courrent's conversion and penalty keeping them a nose ahead of Skréla's penalties.

But Skréla's two penalties to Courrent's one made it 15-13, and then the Parisians delivered a killer blow with a late Juan Hernandez try and Lionel Beauxis's conversion.

Cédric Heymans converted a try of his own with five minutes to go, setting up a gripping finale, but in the end, the home team had little difficulty holding out.

At the other end of the table, Montpellier jumped out of the bottom two with an impressive 39-17 win over Bayonne on Friday, consigning Bayonne to the bottom spot.

The Héraults led 15-10 at the break courtesy of a terrific try by young fly-half François Trinh-Duc, who dummied and shimmied his way through the entire Bayonne defence on the stroke of half-time.

Trinh-Duc also weighed in with two conversionsand a drop goal in a devastating six-minute spell just after the break as Montpellier took full control to go 32-10 ahead. The conversions were of tries by lock Didier Chouchan and scrum-half Julien Tomas.

Montpellier's other tries came from prop Luois Picamoles and lock Joan Caudullo, while Trinh-Duc added another conversion and early penalty. David Aucagne's conversion of Caudullo's late try rounded off the scoring.

Bayonne's points came courtesy of an early Sam Gerber try and a late late try from centre Yoan Audrin, with Richard Dourthe converting both and adding a penalty.

Elsewhere, Clermont fell to a 22-18 defeat at Agen and thus lost ground on Stade Français in second place, with Aurélien Rougerie picking up a red card for two deliberate knock-ons during the match which rules him out of the opening Six Nations match against Italy.

Agen full-back Pepito Elhorga's early try was the difference, with Jérôme Miquel kicking all Agen's other points and Brock James kicking all of Clermont's in a poor game.

Perpignan kept up their challenge in third pace with a 16-9 win over Bourgoin only made certain by Samueli Naulu's late try.

Bourgoin trailed 11-9 at the time, with Jean-Philippe Grandclaude's try the difference between Perpignan scrum-half Nicolas Durand's and Bourgoin fly-half Sebastian Laloo's penalties - 2 and 3 respectively - and were quite unlucky not to pinch a win.

Fifth-placed Biarritz consigned Brive to the bottom two with an atrocious 15-6 win, including a drop goal by Imañol Harinordoquy. Dimitri Yachvili and Julien Dupuy shared the other twelve Biarritz points between them, with Yachvili's final-minute penalty cruelly denying Brive a bonus point.

Castres annihilated Narbonne 62-14, scoring nine tries to two as last week's Heineken Cup woes were banished.

Full-back Romain Teulet scored two tries, eight conversions and a penalty, with the other tries coming from all areas of the pitch.

Wings Jean-Baptiste Peyras Loustalet and Laloa Milford each scored one, back-rows Florian Faure and Alexandre Bias also scored, while there was a brace for international lock Pascal Papé and one for his international second-rwo partner Lionel Nallet.

Narbonne's two consolation tries came from forgotten international wing Julien Candelon.

Narbonne now join Bayonne, Brive, and Montpellier in what looks like a four-way relegation scrap.

Finally, Frédéric Manca's try gave Albi a needed 15-19 victory at Stade Sapiac against Montauban. Manca also kicked the rest of his team's points, with Sebastian Fauqué scoring Montauban's.

The Top 14 now breaks for seven weeks to allow for France's Six Nations campaign.

Top 14 - Round 19 results:
Stade Français 22-20 Toulouse
Montpellier 39-17 Bayonne
Agen 22-18 Clermont
Perpignan 16-9 Bourgoin
Biarritz 15-6 Brive
Castres 62-14 Narbonne
Montauban 15-19 Albi

Top 14 standings:
1 Stade Français 65
2 Clermont-Auvergne 59
3 Perpignan 55
4 Toulouse 53
5 Biarritz 52
6 Bourgoin-Jallieu 45
7 Montauban 42
8 Agen 41
9 Albi 40
10 Castres 39
11 Narbonne 34
12 Montpellier 33
13 Brive 32
14 Bayonne 31