Top 14

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Toulouse lock Fabien Pelous bids farewell to the Stade Ernest Wallon crowd after his last home appearance for the club © Getty Images

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Tournaments/Tours French Top 14 | French Top 14

Teams Castres | France | Stade Français

The qualifiers for this season's Top 14 play-offs have been confirmed following the latest round of action.

Perpignan, Toulouse and Stade Francais were all guaranteed a place in the post-season prior to this weekend's matches and they have now been joined by Clermont Auvergne after Bayonne's slim hopes of making the semi-finals were ended.

Perpignan continue to lead the table following a 20-16 victory over Clermont Auvergne. The boot of fly-half Nicolas Laharrague proved the key with five penalties to help the leaders turn around a 9-3 half-time deficit.

Toulouse remain level on points with Perpignan following their 16-6 win against Bourgoin. A try from Toulouse hooker William Sercat and eight points from the boot of fly-half Jean-Baptiste Elissalde ensured veteran lock Fabien Pelous' last home appearance ended with victory.

The former France captain, who announced earlier this week that he would retire at the end of the season, was greeted in the stadium by 20,000 masks bearing his face as the Stade Ernest Wallon crowd paid their own tribute to the lock.

"When I saw the first mask, I thought it was just one guy," the 35-year-old Pelous told AFP. "But when I saw that everyone was wearing one I was really touched."

Stade Francais cemented their place in the play-offs with a 21-16 victory against Castres at Stade Pierre-Antoine on Friday night.

A first-half try from Thomas Bouquie and eight points from the boot of fly-half Romain Teulet put the hosts in control but three penalties from Lionel Beauxis kept Stade in touch. And they completed a comeback thanks to tries from Mauro Bergamasco and Mathieu Bastareaud with a conversion from Juan martin Hernandez setting the seal on the victory.

Bayonne's title hopes were ended following a 20-11 defeat at the hands of Montpellier. A first-half try from winger Olivier Sarramea set the home side on the way to victory and fly-half Francois Trinh-Duc added three penalties to see his side home.

Elsewhere, Montauban edged out Brive 15-10 while Biarritz scored a 19-12 victory over Toulon.

In the last game of the round, Mont-de-Marsan face off with Dax.

The fifth placed team in the table at the end of the season will join the top four in next season's Heineken Cup and so will sixth place unless Bourgoin win this season's European Challenge Cup - in which case that place will go to them.

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