Castres replaced Perpignan atop the Top 14 standings on Saturday after they fought out an epic 24-24 draw with Racing-Metro while champions Perpignan were surprisingly beaten 16-13 by Montauban.

The top six - who progress at the end of the season to the play-offs to decide the ultimate champions - stayed the same though Toulouse slipped to a home 6-3 defeat by Toulon.

Toulon's victory kept them ahead of seventh-placed Stade Francais, who despite complaining over losing several internationals because of the Six Nations bar on playing them this weekend still managed to record their first away win of the campaign, 22-16, at relegation-threatened Bourgoin.

Castres - who have a one point lead over Perpignan and Clermont - had looked to be heading towards taking the four points for victory but right on the buzzer Racing-Metro levelled the match with a penalty by Jonathan Wisniewski, who kicked 14 points in all.

It was no more than the hosts, who have lost just two of their 11 home matches this term, deserved as they had scored the two tries of the match through South African star Francois Steyn in the 20th minute - benefiting almost immediately from the yellow card for Castres' Cameron McIntyre - and then right on half-time by Henry Chavancy.

Castres had kept in the match thanks to the boot of Romain Teulet, who moved to the top of the points scorers in the Top 14 with 21 points including a quite stunning drop goal from the halfway line.

"We were playing a team vying for a play-off place, who were fifth going into the match and had already beaten Toulouse, Clermont and Toulon," said Castres joint-coach Laurent Labit, who made his name last season with Montauban and has re-energised Castres this season.

"To come away with two points is a huge satisfaction for me personally.

"Metro played a good match, and scored two lovely tries. We cannot say that we deserved to win and the draw is a good reflection of the match," he added graciously.

Perpignan ironically had suffered less than their major title rivals in terms of losing players to the Six Nations bar but it proved to be of little use in their match with Montauban as they went down to their seventh defeat of the season.

Montauban built up a 13-3 lead thanks to a try by Rida Jahouer which was converted and then two penalties by Cedric Rosalen.

Perpignan edged their way back into the contest thanks to a penalty try but the hosts were to hold on, helped by two sin-binnings for Perpignan players in the second-half.

"In the difficult conditions the match was pretty even," said Perpignan coach Jacques Brunel.

"The difference between the two sides were the two yellow cards which saw us having to play with 14 men for 20 minutes.

"We are a little disappointed but the draw would have been a fairer result."

Stade Francais' welcome away victory was a personal triumph for Jimmy Arias, who was really on song running in three tries to leave Bourgoin in second from last place.

Stade's hopes of making inroads on the gap between them and a top six place - they trail Racing-Metro by five points - will be put to the test in a fortnight when they entertain Toulouse while Bourgoin face a huge match in terms of retaining their Top 14 place as they play third from bottom Bayonne next weekend.

Toulouse and Toulon fought out an eminently forgettable encounter, this despite the former side being able to field, despite losing seven players to the Six Nations embargo, virtually an all-international starting line-up.

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