Clermont hammered Brive 38-7 in the Top 14 championship to move nine points clear of Heineken Cup finalists Toulouse.

Clermont were too strong at Stade Marcel-Michelin for Brive - struggling near the foot of the table - and earned five points with five tries to extend the gap over their rivals.

Tries from Aurelien Rougerie, Napoleoni Nalaga, Seremaia Bai, Laurent Emmanuelli and John Smit, plus four conversions and a penalty from James Brock rocketed Clermont clear of their opponents. Bai added a late conversion.

Sukanaivalu Hufanga scored a last-minute consolation for Brive, converted by Maxime Petitjean.

Biarritz kept their semi-final hopes alive with a convincing 20-0 home victory over Montepellier on Saturday. The win sees the Atlantic coast outfit remain in sixth but close the gap on fourth-placed Perpignan to just three points.

For Montpellier, the defeat seriously damaged their chances of clinching a Heineken Cup spot as they slipped to 10th, behind Bourgoin and Bayonne who are all now level on 48 points.

Bourgoin beat Albi 18-13 while Bayonne fell to a 15-12 defeat to Montauban, who kept on the coattails of Biarritz with the win.

Meanwhile, Stade Francais were shocked at Auch, who sealed just their third victory of the entire campaign with the 9-6 win.

The Parisians remain in third, but Perpignan now have a great chance to close the gap when they play Toulouse on Tuesday in a rescheduled kick-off because of this weekend's European final against Munster in Cardiff.

In the final game of the weekend, Castres beat relegation-threatened Dax 38-16 to get their semi-final hopes back on track after last week's defeat at Bayonne. Their bonus-point win brings them to within a point of Perpignan in fourth place.

Terence O'Rorke / Eurosport