AFP – Toulouse's flanker Shaun Sowerby (L) tries to catch the ball in a line out in front of Racing-Metro … 
PARIS (AFP) – Racing-Metro made a triumphant debut home appearance at the Stade de France on Saturday easing to an impressive 43-21 win over Top 14 leaders Toulouse.
The victory saw Racing run in three tries - one by discarded French backrow forward Sebastian Chabal - while fly-half Jonathan Wisniewski contributed 28 points with the boot to show that they are live contenders for the title this year.
All Toulouse's points came from mercurial scrum-half Frederic Michalak as the victory for Racing saw them move to just a point behind Toulouse with four matches remaining of the regular season before it moves into the play-off stage for the top six.
"I would like to congratulate my players because they remained alert for the whole 80 minutes," said Racing's sporting director Pierre Berbizier.
"It is really a wonderful win.
"I hope we can continue on this level. Our next challenge is to keep our feet on the ground."
Guy Noves, the legendary manager of Toulouse, said his players had not been on their best form and had a further blow as France captain Thierry Dusautoir went off with what was first diagnosed as a sprained ankle.
"I am disappointed at our performance," he said.
"However, like after every reverse the club, the players and the management will look at the match again and find reasons behind it.
"We are still top but that is purely incidental. We have to go away twice more (at Perpignan and against Toulon in Marseille) and if we get zero points each time then we will no longer be first.
"While anticipating that, we are going to celebrate our first place," he added smiling.
Biarritz, the team Toulouse beat in last season's European Cup final, coasted to victory in the Basque derby, beating Bayonne 40-10 to consolidate their place in the top six.
France scrum-half Dimitri Yachvili contributed 20 points with his boot while international team-mate Imanol Harinordoquy was one of their four try scorers.
Earlier both Agen and Brive did their hopes of avoiding the second and final relegation spot good by winning their matches.
Agen beat champions Clermont in impressive fashion 26-17 for their sixth win in their last seven home matches and moved them onto 38 points, five ahead of second from bottom La Rochelle, who were beaten at home 34-16 by Perpignan.
Brive cruised to a 50-6 victory over already relegated Bourgoin, giving them a bonus point and leaves them a point adrift of Agen.
Agen steamrollered Clermont - who sorely missed suspended captain Aurelien Rougerie - scoring two tries in the opening 20 minutes to take a 20-7 lead.
Both came from their backrow as first flanker Jean Monribot burst through a flakey Clermont defence to run the ball in from 30 metres and then, in a brilliant move started just outside their own 22 which went through seven different pairs of hands, Tongan No 8 Opeti Fonua touched down.
Clermont had got off to a great start, rocking Agen with a third-minute try by Morgan Parra which he converted and the French scrum-half added a penalty six minutes from the break to just about keep the visitors in touch.
Agen extended their lead shortly after the restart through a penalty by South African fly-half Conrad Barnard taking him to 13 points for the match.
Clermont's hopes took another knock in the 55th minute when replacement prop Vincent Debaty was sin-binned and Barnard added a penalty for a 26-10 lead.
However, Clermont frayed Agen nerves as Samoan centre George Pisi scored a try with 16 minutes remaining - Brock James slotted the conversion for 26-17.
Parra was left seething after the defeat.
"I am both angry and disappointed. We let the match pass us by completely," said Parra.
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