JONNY SEXTON’S RACING Métro will face Toulouse in the Top 14 play-offs next weekend, despite suffering a comprehensive 44-10 defeat to Montpellier this afternoon.
Racing will have to travel to Toulouse for their barrages match [essentially a quarter-final tie], with Toulon awaiting the victors in the semi-finals. Sexton scored a try, conversion and penalty for Racing in today’s defeat, and will hope that his teammates can lift their performance levels ahead of the visit to Guy Novès side.
A thrilling final round of the regular season games saw Grenoble avoid relegation at the other end of the table. The Bernard Jackman and Mike Prendergast-coached club were beaten 31-8 by Toulouse, but defeats elsewhere secured their Top 14 status for a third season.
Instead, Perpignan – who won the Top 14 as recently as 2009 – joined Biarritz in losing their top-flight standing. Marc Delpoux’s side ran Clermont close away from home, but came up short in a 25-22 loss.
Biarritz, formerly a powerful force in European rugby, had confirmed their own relegation before the final round of fixtures, having endured a miserable campaign in which they won just five times.
Toulon’s 17-15 win against Stade Français ensured that they finished top of the table, while Montpellier’s success means they join Bernard Laporte’s side in advancing directly to the semi-final stage.
In the other barrages game, Clermont will host Castres, who squeezed into sixth position after going down 23-13 to Bayonne today.
Stade Français have finished the season in seventh, missing out on the Top 14′s knock-out stages but securing themselves a play-off against the seventh-placed Premiership side to qualify for the inaugural Rugby Champions Cup.
Top 14 barrages fixtures:Clermont v Castres
Toulouse v Racing Métro
Top 14 semi-finals:
Toulon v Toulouse/Racing Métro
Montpellier v Clermont/Castres
