Defending champions Toulon and arch-rivals Clermont are in pole position to secure a bye to the play-off semi-finals in the final round of regulation season matches.

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The duo both sit on 71 points and need only to match Stade Francais’ result, the Parisians sitting in third spot on 70pts.

Clermont visit Montpellier in their final game, Stade Francais are at Brive, who are battling for their top flight survival, while Toulon host fifth-placed Oyonnax, who are in with a chance of a surprise play-off quarter-final place.

Fourth-placed Toulouse could also gatecrash the party but would need a bonus-point win at home to Bordeaux-Begles and for two of the three sides above them to lose without a bonus.

Bordeaux are currently sixth, level on 60pts with Racing-Metro in seventh, meaning one team will miss out on the top six that go on to battle it out for the Bouclier Brennus, the Top 14 winners’ shield.

Clermont will by buoyed by their victory over Toulon last week when they travel to Montpellier, who have just announced that South African World Cup-winning coach Jake White will be staying on for a further two years.

“We must be rigorous, serious and stick at it,” insisted Clermont centre Aurelien Rougerie.

“We’ll be playing a struggling Montpellier team which will want to finish the season by proving their value.”

Assistant coach Franck Azema added: “We don’t want to be dependent on anyone and we’ll go to Montpellier to win.

“We’re very much aware of how important this game is.

“We have the chance of qualifying directly for the semi-finals and we don’t intend to deprive ourselves of that.”