Biarritz relegated, Toulouse claim narrow win over La Rochelle

Saturday's Top 14 action saw Biarritz's relegation sealed after 48-13 loss to Castres.

Having secured promotion to the TOP14 through the promotion-relegation playoff last season, Biarritz have been knocked down to the PROD2 after suffering their 19th defeat of the season.

The Basque side headed into Saturday's match against Castres knowing that they had to beat Castres and hope Perpiginan failed to claim a single point in the remaining games. However, they were unable to shut Castres out, who scored seven tries on their way to victory.

Elsewhere, relegation-threatened Perpignan beat Brive 27-10 to keep their hopes of avoiding the promotion-relegation match alive. The win sees Perpignan move within three points of Brive with two regular-season matches remaining. 

Racing 92 moved closer to securing a playoff spot as they secured fourth place after 24 rounds with Trevor Nyakane grabbing his first try for the Club. Baptiste Pesenti, Ibrahim Diallo, Juan Imhoff and Kevin Le Guen all scored tries in the 21-42 bonus-point win.

League leaders Montpellier were thrashed 43-20 by Lyon, who move into fifth place on 63 points -  three behind Racing 92 in fourth.

Clermont sealed a narrow 29-26 victory over Stade Francais with Sebastien Bezy's try ultimately deciding the eight-try encounter. 

The day's action was rounded off by Toulouse beating Ronan O'Gara's La Rochelle 23-16 with the win sending the defending champions into sixth place. Antoine Dupont and Thibaud Flament scored first-half tries in the tense encounter.

The final game of the weekend takes place on Sunday when second-placed Bordeaux host ninth-placed Toulon. The hosts welcome back France international flyhalf Matthieu Jalibert who goes straight into the starting lineup after three months on the sidelines.