Arizona Tribune - Tuisova hands Racing Top 14 play-off boost with win over Clermont

Tuisova's first-half try helped moved Racing up to fifth in the table with just one round of the regular season to go. They host leaders Toulouse next Sunday.

Clermont head to sixth-placed Bordeaux-Begles next weekend, trailing them by two points, in a must-win clash after just their third home defeat of the season.

Racing, champions in 2016, led 26-13 at the break.

Tuisova motored over after 12 minutes before playing a crucial role in Maxime Baudonne's try four minutes from the interval, which secured an attacking bonus point for the visitors.

After the break, fly-half Antoine Gibert kicked a penalty before Chile hooker Diego Escobar and Fijian winger Wame Naituvi crossed to make sure of victory.

Earlier, Bordeaux-Begles lost 27-22 at Toulon, a week on from defending their Champions Cup crown. They did at least pick up a losing bonus point to stay in the play-off spots.

They had led with 11 minutes to go before Toulon full-back Melvyn Jaminet slotted two long-range penalties.

Bordeaux-Begles only returned to training on Wednesday in the wake of their 41-19 rout of Leinster last weekend.

"It wasn't easy after the week we had," head coach Yannick Bru said.

"This point will be important but it doesn't guarantee us anything.

"Without it, we wouldn't have destiny in our hands."

On Saturday, record 24-time champions Toulouse beat Lyon 39-31 to confirm their semi-final berth despite the ongoing absence of Antoine Dupont due to injury.

Montpellier powered past Pau 26-18 to make them favourites for the other automatic last-four spot.

R.Lee--AT