Top 14: Perpignan relaunches the race to maintain, Lyon offers La Rochelle

Perpignan gave Brive the change of its coin.

Fallen in the first leg in their Aimé-Giral stadium (17-6), the Catalans went to win on the wire in Corrèze (24-22) thanks to a try from the Fijian center Edward Sawailau.

This success on the occasion of the 17th day of Top 14 completely revives the race for maintenance since Usap, which had not yet won outside this season, returns to the classification at the height of its opponent.

To discover

• Fixtures and Top 14 results

• Ranking Top 14

The Brivistes still retain the 13th and penultimate place thanks to their defensive bonus point.

A lesser evil at the end of this lively match in which the two teams, long neck and neck, did not hesitate to play despite the enormous stake.

Lyon on the podium

The Marcel-Deflandre stadium is no longer so scary.

After Pau and Bordeaux-Bègles, Lyon in turn brought down the once impregnable citadel of European champions La Rochelle (20-16).

The LOU, thanks in particular to a great Josua Tuisova, took advantage of this third success in a row to jump in the standings, from sixth to third place.

The Lyonnais pass in particular in front of Racing 92, which failed to confirm its last good victory against La Rochelle (39-36).

The Hauts-de-Seine club paid the price for the spectacular awakening of Pau (38-19), winner, with a bonus, of its first league match since the end of November, with a double from its third line and captain Beka Gorgadze.

Yato, smashing comeback

Christophe Urios must have appreciated.

For his first at the Michelin stadium at the head of Clermont, his new team did not do everything well, far from it.

She lacked realism and multiplied the hand errors, but knew how to show character and fighting spirit - values ​​which are dear to her - to win with a bonus against Castres (41-26), too undisciplined.

Effective on the balls carried, the Auvergnats scored five tries, including a hat-trick for the returning Fijian Peceli Yato, who had not played for more than a year.

The 17th day will close in the evening (9:05 p.m.) with the confrontation between the defending champion, Montpellier, and Toulon, two ambitious players behind on their schedule so far.