France back-rower Sekou Macalou scored two “exceptional” tries as Stade Francais returned to the summit of the French Top 14 with Saturday’s 25-12 win over Pau.
The Parisians had dropped down to second earlier in day after Toulouse hammered Castres 33-6, but Stade Francais return top based on their head-to-head record with the record 22-time champions.
Local boy Macalou, omitted from Les Bleus’ Six Nations squad due to his early-season form, crossed either side of the break at a rainy Stade Jean-Bouin on his 150th club appearances.
“We succeeded in scoring four tries despite difficult conditions with tries from our forwards and tries from Sekou that were exceptional,” Stade Francais head coach Karim Ghezal said of the 28-year-old flanker.
“To score tries like that, it means he feels good in his body, in his mind and that he feels free to play,” he added.
Surprising Pau are in the sixth and final play-off place but sent a second-choice team, shorn of ex-New Zealand lock Sam Whitelock, to the capital city.
Toulouse’s win was good news for under-fire France head coach Fabien Galthie.
Locks Thibaud Flament and Emmanuel Meafou were unscathed before joining up with Galthie’s squad on Sunday having missed the start of the Six Nations with injuries.
“I felt good,” Flament told Canal.
“I enjoyed it a lot, it had been a while that I’d been away from the field. It did some good to be back,” he added, having been sidelined since early December.
Elsewhere, Montpellier moved 10 points clear of bottom side Oyonnax with a 39-35 win over the team based near the Swiss border.
Former France under-20s flanker Lenni Nouchi scored a hat-trick in the space of 16 minutes for the visitors.
Later on Saturday, Siya Kolisi’s struggling Racing 92 lost a fifth straight league for the first time since 2012 tasting a 21-5 defeat at Bordeaux-Begles.
Another of Galthie’s squad members starred as uncapped young centre Nicolas Depoortere scored twice at a sold-out Stade Chaban-Delmas.
On Sunday, Clermont head to La Rochelle and have named Alivereti Raka as captain after the Fijian-born France winger received abuse on social media this week.
