Paris (AFP)

Crossover at the head and tail of Top 14: Bordeaux-Bègles has taken the lead in Lyon, which the two clubs have been fighting for since the start of the season, and Stade Français have left the red lantern in Agen.

By winning the shock against Toulouse (30-27) at the end of the 15th day, Racing took 3rd place, its best ranking of the season. After two weekends without Top 14 due to Six Nations, this day has in any case confirmed the density of the championship, with eight teams vying for six qualifying places for the final phase.

. Any bonus for Bordeaux

"I was not afraid but a little anyway": the sentence of Bordeaux-Bègles manager Christophe Urios sums up the match between the first two in the ranking better than the score itself, 37-19. The Girondins, too tenderly entered into this shock against LOU, fought to find the resources to win and ... take the offensive bonus at the end of the match thanks to two tries in the last ten minutes of Seta Tamanivalu and Santiago Cordero.

The Union (1st, 52 pts) therefore regains the lead in this Top 14 with three points ahead of Lyon and confirms that it is having its best season in the Top 14. To continue dreaming, finally, to access the first final phase of its history.

All while staying in the first two and rising directly to the semi-finals? There is still a long way to go, but Bordeaux, and Lyon, definitely form an original duo that never leaves and that still has room for its pursuers.

. Racing at the top, Toulouse out of the 6

Tenth at the end of the 11th day, Racing sits on the podium this Sunday. Laurent Travers' men are on a series of five victories in a row, enough to nurture ambitions before the trip to LOU next Sunday.

Reduced by the absence of six French internationals - five for Racing -, Toulouse (8th, 35 pts) lost its place in the six. Even if he remains in contact, the Stadium is paying for a season in which he has very rarely been able to have his entire workforce, forcing coach Ugo Mola to imagine a hinge Sébastien Bézy - Cheslin Kolbe at the opening on Sunday .

If Kolbe had a great match in Nanterre, including a 4/5 against the posts, "the imagination has limits" advanced Mola, who knows that, from now on, each match will be important in the final race.

. Toulon, Clermont and Montpellier stay the course

Fourth, Toulon (40 pts) started the post era Mourad Boudjellal, who is officially no longer president, with a victory without bonus and without shining (34-17) against Brive. Sufficient to settle permanently in the six? Not sure: only four points separate the RCT from Montpellier, 7th.

Because, if they are not installed, Clermont as Montpellier are not released. Both had to fight to win, in Pau in the last moments for the Auvergnats (23-20) and against Bayonne at home for the Hérault (31-29). In the classification, the ASM and the MHR remain glued with 36 points each, in 6th place, qualifying, and 7th place, eliminatory. No point of difference, but a world of difference.

. Paris liberated, La Rochelle upset

Again, the Stade Français comes out of the abyss. With a short victory (21-20) against La Rochelle (5th, 38 pts), who will be content for lack of better defensive bonus, the Parisians are no longer last and climb to 12th place ahead of Pau and Agen, new dam and last .

Paris is the 7th best team in the last five days, with three victories, including one of prestige against the title holder Toulouse. Finally, results commensurate with their financial power (bigger budget), since the takeover, under the leadership of the coaching duo Laurent Sempéré and Julien Arias and the general manager Thomas Lombard.

Pink soldiers who do not forget, however, that the fight against the Maritimes was virtually lost to the siren, before the test of Nicolas Sanchez. Providential.

© 2020 AFP