Direction Bordeaux next weekend where Toulouse will face La Rochelle and Clermont will play Lyon in the semi-finals of the Top 14. It could be the first time for a decade when the two best teams of the regular season contest the title between themselves.
That is if Lyon, who narrowly brought an astonishing series of wins by Montpellier to a close, and La Rochelle, who gave Racing a lethal shock in Paris, find they can go no further.
For Lyon, who won 21-16 with the enemy camped at their gates at the end, there was sweet revenge in the air after being badly beaten in the semi-finals by Montpellier last season.
For La Rochelle, who won 19-13, there was the thrill of defying the odds so heavily stacked against them to reach their second semi-final in a row.
Former Toulon scrum-half Pierre Mignoni, whose team were unable to garner a single point in the Champions Cup this season, gave English full-back Delon Armitage the first hour on the pitch.
And 35-year-old Armitage, who is retiring from playing this summer, is now entitled to dream of another major trophy to go with the three Champions Cup winners' medals bestowed during his time at Toulon earlier in the decade.
Lyon were under desperate pressure to hold on in the final seconds but had a try from Kiwi centre Charlie Ngatai to thank for giving them the lead for the first time ten minutes from the close.
A welcome moment for him after Aaron Cruden, once a New Zealand team-mate with the Chiefs, had charged down his attempted clearance to score Montpellier's only try early one.
That was countered a few minutes later by U20 World Cup-winning centre Pierre-Louis Barassi and fly-half Jonathan Wisniewski's kicking did the rest in the first play-off game of his career.
Wisniewski showed courage in leaving the pitch early while bleeding badly only to return and score the points to keep Lyon in touch at the break.
Many among Lyon's ecstatic 17,000 crowd invaded the pitch to celebrate.
They will be happy, too, about Mignoni's decision to reject approaches from the Fédération Française de Rugby, whose president Bernard Laporte was keen to renew the bond they shared when both brought silverware home to Stade Mayol.
Montpellier, who surprisingly lost last year's final 29-13 to Castres, transformed their season once they had resolved the culture clash between South Africans and French that left them in the wrong half of the table.
Billionaires Mohed Alrad, of Montpellier, and Jacky Lorenzetti, of Racing, are left licking their wounds. Especially Lorenzetti whose bitterness in the face of defeat had him hitting out in all directions.
He said of his expensively assembled team: “You are better off with 23 good players who play together than 23 stars who do so for themselves.”
He revealed that the split between coaches Laurent Travers and Laurent Labit, who is joining France, changed their relationship for the worse. And may have led to questionable decisions like the benching of try-scoring lock Leone Nakarawa and scrum-half Teddy Iribaren as well as the exclusion of consistent Argentine winger Juan Imhoff.
Lorenzetti even suggested his team might have to look further than Maxime Machenaud for a captain.
Racing, beaten Champions Cup finalists a year ago, had already lost a quarter-final at home to Toulouse this time around.
Which incited team boss Travers to rap: “When you lose two quarter-finals, you are not ready to be champions. End of story.”
Thirteen knock-ons were a sign of frayed Racing nerves. As were the penalties conceded to the unforgiving boot of Kiwi fly-half Ihaia West, whose 12 points shot him to the head of the Top 14 scoring rankings.
Even the identity of the La Rochelle try-scorer, Arthur Retiere, left, was a rueful setback for Racing. Retiere, son of French Federation coaching chief Didier, was a product of Racing's academy but played only once for them before joining La Rochelle. On the other hand, centre Henry Chavancy, Racing's own home-grown star, was yellow-carded for entering a ruck from the side, an eighth penalty just before the break.
“The 35-year-old Armitage can dream of another major trophy to go with the medals he won with Toulon”
La Rochelle backs coach Xavier Garbajosa is off to join Montpellier. He had never truly accepted being nudged out of the boss's chair by Kiwi Jono Gibbes. Such was the favouritism accorded to Racing he probably thought this would be his last match.
He said: “No-one gave us much of a chance. Racing are used to playing the final stages. Unlike us and, when we do, we rarely get through.
“We told them in the dressing-room at half time they were facing the hardest 40 minutes of their season. Of their careers, for some.”
A return to the Top 14 is at stake today for Brive who must beat Grenoble at home to secure the promotion their season has deserved.
Grenoble, forced into this play-off by their 13th place in the higher sphere, secured only 29 points – a record low – and could not win a single away match. Brive were unbeaten at home.
