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Racing hold edge in battle for second after Bordeaux battering
By Peter Thompson
The battle for the second place in the Top 14 will go down to the final game of the regular season after Racing 92 thrashed Bordeaux-Begles 39-15 and Toulouse struck a blow to La Rochelle's play-off aspirations.
Second-placed Racing hold a one-point advantage over Toulouse following a bonus-point defeat of Bordeaux at Stade Chaban-Delmas on Sunday.
The European Champions Cup finalists will fancy their chances of joining Montpellier in the semi-finals, with a home clash with Agen to come next weekend.
Six points from the boot of Dan Carter gave Racing a 6-0 half-time advantage and they ran riot after the break, Juan Imhoff claiming a double and Louis Dupichot, Teddy Thomas and Leone Nakarawa also going over.
Jean-Baptiste Dubie and Florian Dufour crossed late on for a Bordeaux side with nothing but pride to play for, but rampant Racing had already done enough to win it by then, fly-half Carter finishing with 14 points.
Toulouse missed out on a bonus point in a 19-14 win over La Rochelle later in the day, the excellent Piula Faasalele scoring their only try in the first half.
Thomas Ramos was on target with four penalties and there was drama when Gillian Galan was sent off right at the end after Victor Vito gave La Rochelle hope with a try 14 minutes from time.
Toulouse travel to Clermont Auvergne next Saturday, while La Rochelle host Stade Francais with their fate out of their hands, trailing sixth-placed Castres by two points and Lyon by four.
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Latest Comments
You miss the point. There is no pipeline of players. A coach cannot change that. That is up to the Welsh RFU, which have failed.
Rassie is a clever bugger, no doubt, but the Boks could play 52 players this year because of the systems they have put in place to find and develop players from schoolboy level up.
Go to commentsIn terms of player quality, that is a phenomenal backrow. In terms of balance, not so much. Lacks a heavyweight ball carrier and a lineout option. I'm sure they'd still cause havoc though.
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