Diverse fortunes for the Ile-de-France clubs involved in the Top 14 this Saturday.
And as often, it was Racing that came out of it the best.
Winner 21-42 in Pau, the men of Laurent Travers won a 5th game in a row, all competitions combined and consolidated their place in the Top 6 (4th) two days from the end.
Long abused, the Stade Français believed to achieve the feat by overthrowing Clermont but conceded a try a few minutes from time.
What you must remember
The two Ile-de-France teams offered us two very contrasting first periods.
On the move to Pau, Racing was picked up from the start by Australian third row Reece Hewat who passed the sky and white in-goal after only a few seconds of play.
About twenty minutes later, Juan Imhoff thinks of restarting his own but the Argentinian try is refused for a forward on the action.
The Palois take advantage of this and double the lead through the English opener Zach Henry.
Moment chosen by the Racingmen to press the accelerator.
The South African pillar Nyakane then the 2nd tricolor line Baptiste Pesenti allow the visitors to take the lead at the break (18-20).
On the Stade Français side, we will only remember the try of winger Adrien Lapègue as the Clermont domination will have been overwhelming.
A double from the South African Van Tonder and a try from the 2nd row Thibault Lanen on a carried ball gave the Jaunards a good lead when they returned to the locker room (22-5).
All on numerical superiority for 10 minutes following the yellow card received by Moses Alo-Emile on the Stade Français side.
Read alsoClermont-Stade Français: Morgan Parra, the chef that Paris was waiting for
This comfortable advantage, the men of Jono Gibbes will quickly squander it at the start of the second period.
The Parisians return to the meadow with much better intentions and Kylan Hamdaoui makes the powder speak twice almost in quick succession (45th then 50th).
And the players of Gonzalo Quesada will even achieve the unthinkable by taking the advantage thanks to a 4th try signed by Fijian Waisea.
But this season, very few things are going in favor of Stade Français.
5 minutes from time, Clermont scrum half Sébastien Bézy flattens on the line.
After using the video, the referee grants the try which will be converted, for a final 29-26 victory for ASM.
For their part, the Racingmen had to negotiate a hung start to the second period but ended up making the Section bend for good with three tries signed Ibrahim Diallo, Juan Imhoff and Kevin Le Guen.
Final score 21-42 in favor of the skies and whites who pocket the offensive bonus and climb to 4th place.
Already out of the race for the final stages, Stade Français remains 11th despite the defensive bonus point.
The number: 7
Marcel-Michelin is not a successful speaker at the Stade Français.
Despite their good reaction in the second half, Gonzalo Quesada's men conceded a 7th consecutive defeat on the Clermont lawn.
We have to go back to June 13, 2015 to find traces of a Parisian success in Puy-de-Dôme (6-12 victory at the time).
The declaration: "we want to play on both sides", Maxime Machenaud
“We didn't make it easy with an early try that put us in doubt, but we were able to come back, turn our backs and score points when necessary.
And the icing on the cake is that bonus point.
All points count at the end and we hope this one will do us good.
Fortunately we don't give up, we know we're in the final sprint, we have a 1/4 final (European Cup) next week (
against the Sales Sharks editor's note
) but we want to play on both counts and we knew that this game here would be very important".
