Racing beat Clermont before Taylor Swift stadium switch / Photo: GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT - AFP
Racing beat Clermont before Taylor Swift stadium switch
Racing 92 overcame Clermont 26-10 to move to third in the French Top 14 table in their last game before Taylor Swift and the Olympics force the Parisians to leave home.
Champions Cup games and the Top 14 schedule mean Racing do not have a home game until the weekend of May 11.
By then, American pop queen Swift will have started her four-night sold-out run of concerts at the indoor Paris La Defense Arena.
Swift follows the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen and Paul McCartney in playing the venue, opened in 2017.
The arena, which can welcome up to 40,000 people, then needs to be converted to a swimming pool for the summer's Paris Olympic Games.
Racing will play their two last home league games, 170km away in Auxerre's football stadium.
Against Clermont, Racing crossed for tries from England winger Henry Arundell, South African fly-half Tristan Tedder and Argentina winger Juan Imhoff.
They are eight points off second-placed Toulouse and 11 from local rivals and league leaders Stade Francais with six rounds of the regular season to play.
Next weekend Racing head to Toulouse in the Champions Cup last 16 and are expected to welcome back South Africa's two-time World Cup winning captain Siya Kolisi from injury.
However, Racing suffered potential blows to their Champions Cup hopes as scrum-half Nolann Le Garrec and fly-half Antoine Gibert suffered injuries during the win over Clermont.
- Ntamack is back -
"We're a team that likes being resilient when things are difficult. We will feed off that," Racing's attack coach Frederic Michalak told Canal.
"We will try and be competitive even if they are big players that are injured," the former France fly-half added.
Earlier, fly-half Joris Segonds kicked all Stade Francais' points as they stretched their lead at the summit with a sluggish 12-10 win at struggling Montpellier.
Montpellier remain in 13th and the relegation play off spot after their 12th defeat in 20 league games this season.
They are four points off safety after 12th-placed Lyon edged Bordeaux-Begles 27-10.
Elsewhere, former Australia hooker Tolu Latu claimed a double as Champions Cup holders La Rochelle warmed up for next weekend's last-16 tie at the Stormers by overcoming bottom side Oyonnax 40-21.
Toulouse's France fly-half Romain Ntamack came off the bench for his first game since suffering a serious knee injury in August as they beat Pau 31-29.
Victory closed the gap with table-topping Stade Francais to three points with a two-week break before the Champions Cup's last 16 and quarter-finals.
On Sunday, Basque side Bayonne are in their second home, across the border in San Sebastian, as they host Toulon.
D.Richter--MP
