Toulon and Clermont in pole for automatic play-off spots

Defending champions Toulon and arch-rivals Clermont are in pole position to secure a bye to the play-off semi-finals in the final round of regulation season matches on Saturday.

The duo both sit on 71 points and need only to match Stade Francais' result, the Parisians sitting in third spot on 70pts.

Clermont visit Montpellier in their final game, Stade Francais are at Brive, who are battling for their top flight survival, while Toulon host fifth-placed Oyonnax, who are in with a chance of a surprise play-off quarter-final place.

Fourth-placed Toulouse could also gatecrash the party but would need a bonus-point win at home to Bordeaux-Begles and for two of the three sides above them to lose without a bonus.

Bordeaux are currently sixth, level on 60pts with Racing-Metro in seventh, meaning one team will miss out on the top six that go on to battle it out for the Bouclier Brennus, the Top 14 winners' shield.

Clermont will by buoyed by their victory over Toulon last week when they travel to Montpellier, who have just announced that South African World Cup-winning coach Jake White will be staying on for a further two years.

"We must be rigorous, serious and stick at it," insisted Clermont centre Aurelien Rougerie.

"We'll be playing a struggling Montpellier team which will want to finish the season by proving their value."

Assistant coach Franck Azema added: "We don't want to be dependent on anyone and we'll go to Montpellier to win!

"We're aware how important this game is.

"We have the chance of qualifying directly for the semi-finals and we don't intend to deprive ourselves of that."

Stade Francais received a massive boost with news that inspirational captain and No 8 Sergio Parisse will be back for the away trip to Brive, the Italian having served his ban for a red card against capital rivals Racing.

"We go to Brive! Requalified! #normal #picoftheday #justice," tweeted Parisse alongside a photograph of his girlfriend Silvia Bragazzi wearing his rugby shirt.

For big-spending Racing, it is a question of salvaging what would be a wretched season should they not qualify for the play-offs.

"I hope we can put in a big match this weekend against Castres to qualify," said Racing's South Africa-born France flanker Bernard Le Roux.

"We always said to ourselves that everything could come down to the final day.

"Up against a fine Castres team in very good form, we know that they'll play everything and try to beat us. We all want to play the play-offs and qualify so we'll give it our all this weekend!"

At the other end of the table, Lyon are bottom and guaranteed to be relegated to the ProD2, while Bayonne are 13th on 47pts, one adrift of Brive.

Bayonne host La Rochelle, sat comfortably in ninth place, while Brive's task at Stade Francais was not lost on Arnaud Mignardi.

"The chance we have, if you can say it like that, is that we have players in the squad who have bottle," the twice-capped Brive centre said.

"Some players have gone through such situations before. We're more used to playing for survival than battling for the Brennus so we must use that experience."

Mignardi added: "There's now one day of rugby left, we have to take five points and that's it, there's no need to get the calculators out."

Fixtures (all 1415 GMT)

Bayonne v La Rochelle, Brive v Stade Francais, Lyon v Grenoble, Montpellier v Clermont, Racing-Metro v Castres, Toulon v Oyonnax, Toulouse v Bordeaux-Begles
Source: AFP