Toulouse (AFP)

Various fortunes for the European finalists: one week from the deadline, La Rochelle crushed the red lantern Agen (59-0) on Saturday during the 24th day of Top 14 while Toulouse lost at home against Bayonne (32- 28) with a second team.

The Toulouse leader, thanks to the defensive bonus point snatched in the last minutes of a game that he had started well, is still the first club to qualify for the final phase of the championship.

Two days from the end of the regular season, he is mathematically assured, with 73 points, of finishing in the top six of the standings since he has 11 lengths ahead of Stade Français and Toulon, sixth and seventh with 62 points. .

Relative satisfaction for the Reds and Blacks, who are mainly aiming for one of the first two directly qualifying places for the semi-finals.

As for the trip to Toulon last weekend, which ended in a heavy defeat (44-10), the Toulouse management still spared most of its executives in view of the first continental final of the Rouge et Noir since 2010 .

With only three or four holders in power (Rory Arnold, François Cros, Zack Holmes, Thomas Ramos), the quadruple European champion has bent in the face of the envy of Bayonnais in the fight for maintenance.

- La Rochelle, green lights -

The club that will face him next Saturday in the final has opted for a different approach against Agen, with a starting XV close to that which should be aligned on the London lawn of Twickenham.

Only Grégory Alldritt, Romain Sazy and Raymond Rhule started on the bench, while the powerful Fijian three-quarter center Levani Botia, injured in an ankle, was not in the group.

By strangling the Agen red lantern 59-0, with nine tries, including a double from the South African winger Rhule, who entered during the match, the Rochelais put all the lights on green.

They quietly resumed the rhythm of the competition before the first European Cup final in their history and almost ensured their qualification for the final phase of the championship, where they regained second place temporarily grabbed by Racing 92 after their victory. in Pau (35-29) on Friday evening.

It is high time, however, that the season ends for Agen, beaten for the 23rd time in as many outings this season.

- Castres and Montpellier, end of series -

If the relegation of the SUA has been no longer in doubt for a long time, the suspense remains in the fight to avoid the penultimate place in the barrage, which should fall to a club from the Pyrénées-Atlantique.

Thanks to its surprise victory in Toulouse, Bayonne regained control over Pau, now 13th, but only three points separate the two neighbors.

Equally uncertain is the race to qualify for the finals.

With two matches late, Bordeaux-Bègles is on a favorable waiver after its difficult success, in the rain, against a direct competitor, Castres (20-16), whose series of five consecutive successes has ended.

Stade français and Lyon can still believe in the top 6 thanks to their victories against Montpellier (32-10) and Brive (24-7), two teams which had already played matches postponed in midweek due to the Covid-19.

An end of the series also for the MHR, which remained on eight consecutive victories in all competitions.

But the Hérault management has turned a lot in the perspective of the final of the European Challenge, Friday in London, against the English Leicester.

© 2021 AFP