Clermont move closer to playoff bye
Morgan Parra racked up 18 points with the boot and also crossed the whitewash for a second-half try, with Australian hooker John Ulugia also dotting down after Clermont were awarded a penalty try.
Clermont, who were beaten by Stade in last year's final, remained six points clear at the summit ahead of the last two rounds of matches, with Toulon and Montpellier both locked on 77 points and European Cup runners-up Racing 92 also qualified for the playoffs.
The hosts jumped out to a 9-0 lead with Parra sending over two penalties before Scott Spedding added a third.
Morne Steyn put Stade on the board with a 32nd-minute penalty, but Clermont went into the interval with a 19-3 advantage as Parra struck again before the hosts added a penalty try with Stade prop Rabah Slimani in the sin-bin.
Ulugia touched down two minutes into the second half, Parra again converting, but Stade gave themselves a glimmer of hope when Djibril Camara grabbed a 53rd-minute try.
However, Parra completed a fine individual performance with a try of his own 10 minutes later, to leave Clermont needing to beat either Toulouse or La Rochelle in their remaining games to nail down a spot in the Top 14 semifinals.
Top 14 results:
Clermont 36-10 Stade Francais
Agen 13-52 Toulon
Brive 45-24 Grenoble
Castres 67-20 La Rochelle
Oyonnax 17-25 Toulouse
Racing 43-13 Pau
Montpellier 19-16 Bordeaux-Begles
Top 14 table:
(played, won, drawn, lost, points for, points against, bonus points, total points)
Clermont 24 17 1 6 667 401 13 83
Toulon 24 15 0 9 699 407 17 77
Montpellier 24 17 0 7 662 508 9 77
Racing 92 24 16 1 7 544 483 7 73
Toulouse 24 14 2 8 605 368 10 70
Castres 24 13 0 11 590 462 11 63
Bordeaux 24 13 2 9 515 452 6 62
Brive 24 12 1 11 487 501 7 57
La Rochelle 24 11 0 13 531 569 10 54
Grenoble 24 10 0 14 579 697 7 47
Pau 24 9 1 14 381 617 3 41
Stade Francais 24 8 0 16 501 570 5 37
Oyonnax 24 5 0 19 390 799 2 22
Agen 24 4 0 20 482 799 5 21
Agence France-Presse
