Blair Kinghorn concern after Toulouse injury as Stuart Hogg stars at stand-off in Montpellier victor

Blair Kinghorn had to come off in the early stages of Toulouse’s derby match against Castres in the Top 14 on Saturday.

The Scotland full-back suffered a knee injury which will be a concern for both player and club with so much to play for over the next few weeks.

Toulouse will take on Bordeaux-Bègles away in the Investec Champions Cup semi-finals next Sunday and they are flying high in the French league as they look to repeat the European Cup and domestic title double they won last season.

Kinghorn, 28, will also have aspirations to go on the British & Irish Lions tour to Australia this summer.

He had to come off in the eighth minute of the match at Stade de Toulouse as the home side won 52-6 to consolidate their place at the top of the table. He was replaced by Pierre-Louis Barassi. It’s another injury worry for the French champions who have already lost star backs Antoine Dupont and Ange Capuozzo.

Stuart Hogg dropped a goal to help Montpellier to a 19-13 home win over Perpignan. The former Scotland captain was playing at stand-off again and also kicked two penalties and a conversion as Montpellier put some distance between themselves and the danger zone. Hogg’s team are ninth with four rounds remaining of the regular season. Perpignan are second bottom.

Basement club Vannes enjoyed a surprise 29-19 home win over third-placed Toulon to boost their hopes of beating the drop. They are now only a point behind Perpignan.

Jonny Gray, the Scotland lock, couldn’t stop second-placed Bordeaux falling to a 21-10 home defeat against a resurgent La Rochelle. Ronan O’Gara’s side have struggled this season but are knocking on the door of the top six as the race for play-off places hots up.

In England, Finn Russell came off the bench to help Bath ease to a 55-19 bonus-point victory over Newcastle that secured top seeding in the play-offs. Russell led the home side’s ‘bomb squad’ onto the field in the second half and converted two tries, including one by his Scotland team-mate Cam Redpath, who was yellow-carded in the first half.

Bath travel north to take on Edinburgh at Hive Stadium in the semi-finals of the EPCR Challenge Cup this Saturday.