Rennes edged out Lille and Monaco to secure a top-four finish while Nantes’ first league win since February saw them stay up at Auxerre’s expense on a dramatic final day of Ligue 1 action.

Rennes clinched a 2-1 victory against Brest thanks to a Benjamin Bourigeaud brace, seizing on Lille’s 1-1 draw with relegated Troyes and Monaco’s 2-1 reverse against Toulouse to take fourth.

Bruno Genesio’s side thus secured Europa League football for next season, while Paulo Fonseca’s Lille must settle for a Europa Conference League spot and Monaco missed out entirely.

Champions Paris Saint-Germain squandered a two-goal lead in a 3-2 loss to Clermont, meaning they finished just one point clear of runners-up Lens, who ended the season with a 3-1 win at Auxerre.

That victory allowed Nantes to finalise a great escape in their final game, vaulting Auxerre to secure safety with a 1-0 win over relegated Angers.

A second string Chiefs team kept the Queensland Reds’ season alive as the ladder leaders destroyed the Western Force 43-19 in Perth on Saturday night.

A Force victory would have catapulted the club into the quarter-finals and knocked Brad Thorn’s Reds out of the playoffs.

But the Force got stage fright as a severely understrength Chiefs side played with immense freedom and confidence in the final game of the regular season.

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The Chiefs already had top spot locked up heading into round 15 and coach Clayton McMillan rested stars Damian McKenzie, Emoni Narawa, Brad Weber, Luke Jacobson, Sam Cane, Brodie Retallick and Samisoni Taukei’aho.

But, led well by All Blacks centre Anton Lienert-Brown, the Chiefs youngsters took their opportunities superbly in front of a shell-shocked Sea of Blue.

Lienert-Brown scored one of the better tries of the night when he calmly collected a cross-kick from five-eighth Rameka Poihipi to complete a raid sparked by fullback Shaun Stevenson.

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The Chiefs will now host a quarter-final against the Reds in Hamilton after Queensland were thrashed 41-17 by the Fijian Drua in Suva earlier on Saturday.

The Crusaders, who lost 27-26 to the Hurricanes in Wellington on Saturday, finished second on the ladder and will host the Drua in Christchurch.

The third-placed Blues will welcome the NSW Waratahs in Friday’s opening quarter-final, while the fourth-ranked Brumbies will entertain the Hurricanes in Canberra on Saturday.

SUPER RUGBY PACIFIC QUARTER-FINALS

Friday: Blues (3) vs Waratahs (6) in Auckland

Saturday: Chiefs (1) vs Reds (8) in Hamilton

Saturday: Crusaders (2) vs Drua (7) in Christchurch

Saturday: Brumbies (4) vs Hurricanes (5) in Canberra

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