European champions Toulouse defeated Stade Francais 34-16 on Saturday thanks to a breathtaking second-half performance in a bruising French Top 14 clash that saw five players yellow-carded.
Stade, who went into the game with two wins from two matches, were 16-11 ahead at the break with Argentine centre Martin Rodriguez kicking three penalties and converting his own 40th-minute try.
That score came after Toulouse's international fly-half Yannick Jauzion had become the third player in the opening period to be yellow-carded following team-mate Florian Fritz and Stade hooker Laurent Sempere's earlier offences.
They had been dismissed in the first five minutes, just before hooker William Servat had scored a 17th-minute try that helped give Toulouse an early 8-0 lead.
Stade lost their shape and their own discipline after the interval.
Nicolas Bezy, who had replaced Jauzion early in the second half, cut the deficit with a penalty before French international winger Maxime Medard sprinted away for a Toulouse try after Stade had lost the ball.
Stade's Argentine lock Juan Manuel Leguizamon became the fourth player to receive a yellow card after unleashing a wild haymaker of a punch -- which missed -- on Shaun Sowerby.
While he was off the pitch, winger Vincent Clerc ran half the length of the pitch to score after back-row forward Sylvain Nicolas had won impressive turnover ball.
Bezy converted and added a late penalty to stretch Toulouse's advantage while Stade's South African fly-half Brian Liebenberg became the fifth and final player to fall foul of referee Pascal Gauzere.
Toulouse's All Blacks scrum-half Byron Kelleher, out with a broken jaw suffered in the summer, made his first appearance of the season coming as a second half replacement.
"I have put in a lot of work this summer and I even lost four kilos," he said.
"It was a shame not to have taken a bonus point tonight because we know that these points can be very valuable in this championship."
The victory put Toulouse on top of the table, just ahead of defending champions Clermont, who eased past Brive 33-9 with tries from international winger Julien Malzieu, Elvis Vermeulen and Vincent Debaty -- whose 68th-minute score earned his team a bonus point.
Stade Francais are third on nine points, one behind the top two, while Bayonne are in fourth place after losing 25-16 at Castres, their first defeat of the season.
On Friday, England star Jonny Wilkinson kicked 26 points but was unable to prevent big-spending Toulon from crashing to a 36-31 defeat by Racing-Metro; the club's second home defeat of the season.
Wilkinson kicked eight penalties and converted Argentine flanker Juan Martin Fernandez-Lobbe's 73rd-minute try.
But Racing were worthy winners, scoring three tries through flanker Antoine Battut, Italian centre Andrea Masi and Fiji winger Sireli Bobo.
Racing also celebrated seeing Argentine star fly-half Juan Martin Hernandez come off the bench to kick a penalty and convert Bobo's score to register his first points since his summer move from South African Super 14 side Sharks.
Hernandez, who spent five seasons at Stade Francais, replaced Jonathan Wisniewski on the hour mark.
Copyright 2010 AFP Global Edition
