The league leader travels to fourth-placed Toulouse on Monday (AEDT) and will have been relieved to see Toulon, in third, claim only one point as it subsided to a shock 29-26 defeat at struggling Oyonnax.

Racing benefited from Stade's Zurab Zhvania picking up a yellow card inside 11 minutes for a dangerous tackle on Dan Carter, and they soon capitalised as Boris Palu went over.

Carter converted but Racing found itself 14-7 down at the break as Stade hit back through Jimmy Yobo and Marvin O'Connor.

The hosts came out firing after the interval, however, and were back in front by the hour mark courtesy of Teddy Thomas's brace, the second on the back of an excellent break from Virimi Vakatawa.

Marc Andreu's score 10 minutes from time effectively put the game beyond Stade, for whom Morne Steyn's penalty and Baptiste Lafond's interception try in the last minute set up the chance to secure a losing bonus point, only for Steyn to miss the extras.

A maximum return for Toulon would have seen it join Racing in closing to within four of Montpellier, but Fabien Galthie's men were put to the sword by the boot of Ben Botica.

The New Zealander kicked 19 points, including converting tries scored by Rory Grice and Steven Sykes, the latter going over with a minute to go to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat for Oyonnax, which remains in the bottom two but has now won four in a row.

Meanwhile, Clermont Auvergne thrashed Pau 38-14, La Rochelle edged out Lyon 19-15 and Bordeaux-Begles came away a 15-10 winner from a trip to Agen.