Paris (France) (AFP) - Nolann Le Garrec scored 18 points to help guide La Rochelle to a nail-biting 26-24 victory over Racing 92 in Top 14 action on Sunday.

The victory left La Rochelle in eighth place in the table on 58 points, just 3pts behind Racing in seventh but six points behind sixth-placed Bordeaux-Begles.

With just three matches of the regular season remaining, both teams are still in the running for a push at a top-six finish that would see them progress to the Top 14 play-offs.

“If we hadn’t won tonight, the dream of winning the league was over,” said La Rochelle’s Irish coach Ronan O’Gara.

“But this evening, we’re still alive. I’m happy for the players, who’ve worked well over the last two weeks and have shown their capability to be a great rugby team.”

La Rochelle host runaway league leaders Toulouse next weekend before travelling to relegated Montauban and then wrapping up at home against Stade Francais.

Racing, whose defeat by La Rochelle was their first at home this season, play Toulon next Saturday and then take on Clermont away and Toulouse at home.

La Rochelle led 17-13 at the break thanks to two tries from France internationals Le Garrec and Oscar Jegou either side of one by Racing hooker Janick Tarrit.

Antoine Gibert and Ugo Seunes each hit two penalties for the home side, while Le Garrec kicked two conversions and two penalties with Georgian full-back Davit Niniashvili successful with a long-range three-pointer.

With 13 minutes to play, Racing’s Fijian winger Selestino Ravutaumada crossed for his team’s second try to hand them a one-point lead.

Seunes missed the extras and it proved crucial as Le Garrec nailed a 74th minute penalty, his third, to win the game for La Rochelle after Demba Bamba’s tackle on a ball-less Judicael Cancoriet.

Racing coach Patrice Collazo rued his team’s impatience in the final five minutes, including a drop-goal effort by Seunes on the whistle that went wide.

“That wasn’t right for the situation,” Collazo said.

“We should have continued to make La Rochelle infringe but we were too impatient.

“Given the make-up of the match, it was always going to finish with a heads or a tails, and it was the wrong side for us.”

On Saturday, leaders Toulouse became the first team to book their place in the play-offs with a 51-27 win over Toulon in front of 66,000 fans at the Stade Velodrome in Marseille.