Top 14: Play-off spots go to wire after La Rochelle and Toulouse draw eight-try thriller

Ronan O’Gara’s La Rochelle face a decisive final round match at home to Stuart Lancaster’s Racing 92

Toulouse's French centre Baptiste Germain (C) is tackled by La Rochelle's Tongan hooker Tolu Latu (L) and La Rochelle's French lock Remi Picquette (R) during the French Top14 rugby union match between Stade Toulousain Rugby (Toulouse) and Stade Rochelais (La Rochelle) at the Ernest-Wallon stadium in Toulouse, south-western France on June 2, 2024. Photo by VALENTINE CHAPUIS/AFP via Getty Images

Ronan O’Gara’s La Rochelle will put their Top 14 play-off hopes on the line in a decisive final round match at home to Stuart Lancaster’s Racing 92 next Saturday, after playing out a breathless eight-try 31-31 draw at Toulouse.

The result saw the Rochelais’ climb to fifth in the table, ahead of their next and last opponents – but both sides remain in the reach of chasing sides Perpignan and Castres.

Nerveless Thomas Ramos levelled the scores with a minute of regular time left after Lucas Tauzin had raced in for his second try in a breathless, end-to-end match-up between the Top 14’s leading attacking side, Toulouse, and its most miserly defence.

Returning La Rochelle tighthead Georges-Henri Colombe had scored what looked to be the crucial try just before the hour, bulldozing over from close range after captain Gregory Alldritt was pulled down just short of the line.

La Rochelle had got off to the quickest start, with tries from Jack Nowell and Will Skelton in the opening 10 minutes.

Nowell doubled his Rochelais try count a week after scoring his first Top 14 try, in the sixth minute, darting clear after a delightful flick backwards from Uini Atonio in his 300th club outing had released UJ Seuteni.

Skelton’s was a classic of the short-range kind, powering over after Judicael Cancoriet was brought down a metre from the line.

While O’Gara relied on his most experienced available squad, opposite number Ugo Mola – with Toulouse already guaranteed a semi-final place in Bordeaux – made changes aplenty after last Saturday’s sapping extra-time victory in London.

Paul Graou was a livewire at nine in the absence of Antoine Dupont, busy winning gold at the HSBC SVNS Grand Final in Madrid. Ramos pulled strings at 10, with Romain Ntamack rested, and Ange Capuozzo slotted in at fullback in the absence of Blair Kinghorn. Only Francois Cros kept his place in the starting line-up.

It was Capuozzo who sparked Toulouse’s fightback, with their first try in the 14th minute. Their forwards probed away in midfield, before Ramos got hands on the ball. He shipped it on to Pierre-Louis Barassi, who offloaded out of the tackle to the Italian, who exploded clear to score beside the posts.

Rookie Mathis Castro-Ferreira thundered through two tackles to score his eighth try in 14 Top 14 matches and take the hosts into the lead for the first time just after the half-hour.

Seuteni and Lucas Tauzin swapped touchdowns in the first 10 minutes of the second half, before Colombe’s score and a penalty from Antoine Hastoy looked to have settled matters.

But Toulouse, clearly, had other ideas. 

Earlier on Sunday, Gabin Villiere scored twice as Toulon ensured a first play-off run with a 52-10 bonus-point win over Clermont at Stade Mayol – the only bonus point of the 25th weekend of the season. Pierre Mignoni’s side moved up to third in the table, within shooting distance of final-round hosts Stade Francais.

Some 24 hours earlier, the Parisians, Top 14 leaders for a large part of the season, had lost 27-18 at Castres’ Stade Pierre Fabre, to miss out on securing the second automatic pass to the semi-finals at the Matmut Atlantique.

Yannick Bru’s Bordeaux were unable to take advantage of Stade Francais’ slip, losing 37-30 at revelation-of-the-season Perpignan despite fighting back from 31-16 at the end of the first half.

Stuart Lancaster’s Racing 92, who have featured in the post-season knockout phase every season since 2010, halted a three-match losing streak with a 24-15 victory over Pau in Auxerre.

At the other end of the table Jan Serfontein scored a hat-trick as Montpellier – already resigned to a survival play-off against the loser of next Saturday’s ProD2 final between Grenoble and Vannes – picked up a morale-boosting 41-26 win over Lyon at the GGL Stadium.  Relegated Oyonnax signed off their season at home with a 27-20 win over Bayonne, Enzo Reybier scoring the decisive try – his second of the match – in the 79th minute. It was the ultimate consolation score. Oyonnax’s relegation was confirmed, but it gave the home fans something to cheer in the final home match of the season.

All seven final-round matches kick off next Saturday at 8.05pm Irish time. Four matches will be decisive: Stade Francais put second place – and its semi-final bye – on the line against third-placed Toulon at Stade Jean Bouin, while La Rochelle host Racing 92 knowing that whoever loses could miss out on the play-offs altogether. Perpignan and Castres need to win at Pau and Bayonne respectively if they are to steal a top-six finish at the death.