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TOP 14

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Top 14 round-up, Week 19

Sunday 27th April 2008

Percy Montgomery: Kicked Brive into touch

Clermont put daylight between themselves and second-placed Toulouse with a convincing 36-13 win at Auch on Saturday in the Top 14.

The men in yellow ran in five tries to Auch's two to claim a bonus point and take them ten points clear of second-placed Toulouse.

The result probably cooks Auch's goose as far as relegation is concerned, but Dax have livened up the fight for survival with a 12-9 win at home to Albi. Antoine Vignaut-Tuquet was the hero of the hour for Dax with two penalties and two drop goals.

Neither Bayonne nor Bourgoin would have been satisfied with the outcome of their match at the Stade Jean Dauger on Saturday, a 19-19 draw. Both teams were striving for a win which would have eased their distant relegation worries.

However, it would have been Bourgoin who ended most relieved after Sebastian Laloo's last-minute penalty earned them a share of the spoils.

In the battle for play-off spots, Perpignan stole a march on Biarritz with a 16-7 win at Brive, while the Biarrots tumbled to a 19-13 defeat at Montauban.

Perpignan's win had a distinctly foreign flavour, wit Nathan Hines scoring their only try, and Percy Montgomery weighing in with a conversion and two penalties, while Gavin Hume notched a drop goal. Montgomery's second penalty, two minutes from time, meant Brive did not even take a bonus point.

In the Friday might match, Stade Français kept themselves tucked in just behind Toulouse with a 12-9 win at Montpellier, with the boot of Juan Hernandez doing the damage for the Parisians.

Round 19 results:

Montpellier 9 Stade Français 12
Auch 13 Clermont 36
Bayonne 19 Bourgoin 19
Dax 12 Albi 9
Brive 7 Perpignan 16
Montauban 19 Biarritz 13

Standings (points):

1. Clermont 76
2. Toulouse 66
3. Paris 61
4. Perpignan 57
5. Biarritz 53
6. Castres 46
7. Montauban 45
8. Montpellier 39
9. Bourgoin 38
10. Brive 36
11. Bayonne 35
12. Albi 32
13. Dax 26
14. Auch 14