Former Wallaby Digby Ioane scored his first try in French rugby's Top 14 but it wasn't enough to prevent Stade Francais losing 25-13 to Clermont who leapfrogged the visitors into first place.
The 28-year-old Ioane crashed over late for a somewhat fortuitous try after a chip ahead from South Africa's Morne Steyn bounced off Jean-Marcellin Buttin's leg.
Halfback Morgan Parra was outstanding for Clermont, scoring all of their points.
Parra slotted six penalties and a converted try as Clermont recorded their 72nd successive win at their Marcel-Michelin stadium, taking a two-point lead over Stade after 18 matches.
Parra, who missed out on selection for the first two of France's Six Nations games because he only returned to action from injury recently, said it wasn't one of their best performances.
"We were a little off our game, maybe we rushed things too much because we felt a bit of pressure or perhaps it was because we hadn't played together for a fortnight," he said.
Stade captain Julien Arias, who was sin-binned early in the match, said that it was important Stade learnt from the performance.
"It is a pity as we came here looking to do better than this," he said.
"The important thing is we bounce back from this game and don't let it affect us on the run in to the play-offs."
Stade were missing nine players through injury and several others away on Test duty
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