Toulon chief cuts players' holidays; Racing crash

Boudjellal, the controversial comic book king who has bankrolled Toulon to three European titles, demanded his players be banned from taking holidays during the forthcoming three-week Six Nations break.

However, after discussions with English coach Mike Ford, it was agreed that the squad would be back at work from February 5, a full 13 days before their next Top 14 clash against Lyon.

"I have spoken to Mourad. We will have a week of rest until February 5," said Ford.

"But the players have to ask themselves if they were ready for the battle, for the war."

It's understood that the players were already due to return to duty on February 8 but even that was too generous for Boudjellal in the immediate aftermath of a defeat which left fifth-placed Toulon 12 points off La Rochelle, the new league leaders.

"I was almost expecting to lose this game," he said. "Holidays are cancelled. I don't care about airline tickets or anything like that, it's their problem."

Toulon, however, weren't the only French giants cut down to size on Saturday as defending champions Racing 92 gave up a 19-13 half-time lead to lose 37-25 to Lyon.

Adding to Racing's problems was the sight of All Blacks star Dan Carter limping off in the 32nd minute with what appeared to be a groin injury.

Lyon scored three of their tries in the second period when lock Leone Nakarawa and wing Teddy Thomas were yellow-carded.

English No.8 Carl Fearns and Australian wing Toby Arnold finished with two scores each while evergreen Freddie Michalak kicked 17 points.

Defeat left Racing in 10th place, six points off the play-offs while Lyon moved 10 points clear of relegation.

On the pitch at Toulon's Stade Mayol, a last-gasp penalty from Australian fly-half Brock James ensured La Rochelle kept up their unlikely title tilt.

La Rochelle, a solitary point behind Clermont going into the weekend, moved three points clear as they made it four straight wins.

James may have bagged the plaudits for holding his nerve with his 35-metre kick, the last action of the contest, but it was a pair of tries from Vincent Rattez that underpinned the triumph.

Zack Holmes and then fellow Aussie James converted and added a penalty each before the latter's final coup de grace.

"It's a great result for us. We gave everything out there and that was the key," Rattez told Canal+ Sport.

Sixth-placed Toulouse failed to capitalise on Toulon's defeat, suffering a shock 20-10 loss to Pau who have now won four matches in succession.

Hooker Thomas Bianchin and centre Julien Fumat scored Pau's tries in the first 25 minutes against a Toulouse team sorely missing first-choice centres Gael Fickou and Yann David as well as fly-half Jean-Marc Doussain who are away on Six Nations duty.

Castres moved into fourth spot with a 38-25 win over Montpellier, the team above them in third.

Castres ran in four tries through highly-regarded scrum-half Antoine Dupont, wing David Smith, replacement scrum-half Rory Kockott and loose forward Yannick Caballero as Montpellier suffered a fifth loss in their last six away games.

Second-bottom Grenoble boosted their survival hopes with a bonus-point 44-22 win over struggling Stade Francais who are fourth bottom.

Hooker Arnaud Heguy, centres Fabrice Estebanez and Chris Farrell and wing Xavier Mignot grabbed Grenoble's tries with Jonathan Wisniewski kicking 24 points.

Clermont will look to reclaim top spot Sunday when they travel to Bordeaux.

But they will be missing seven Six Nations players as well as star centre Wesley Fofana who ruptured his Achilles tendon in the European Cup last weekend.

Results

Toulon 20 La Rochelle 23

Castres 38 Montpellier 25

Grenoble 44 Stade Francais 22

Toulouse 10 Pau 20

Lyon 37 Racing92 25

Playing Sunday (all times GMT)

Bayonne v Brive (11.30)

Bordeaux-Begles v Clermont (15.45)

Standings (played, won, drawn, lost, points for, points against, bonus points, total points):

La Rochelle       17 10 3  4 439 313 8 54

Clermont          16 10 2  4 474 328 7 51

Montpellier       17 10 0  7 434 378 6 46

Castres           17  9 1  7 438 347 5 43

Toulon            17  8 1  8 408 363 8 42

Toulouse          17  9 0  8 348 333 6 42

Bordeaux-Begles   16  8 0  8 374 365 5 37

Pau               16  8 0  8 366 395 5 37

Brive             16  8 1  7 343 381 2 36

Racing92          16  8 1  7 350 349 2 36

Stade Francais    17  7 1  9 397 431 4 34

Lyon              16  6 2  8 325 361 5 33

Grenoble          17  4 0 13 392 537 7 23

Bayonne           15  3 2 10 223 430 0 16

Agence France-Presse