Montauban appear destined for ProD2 after club president Patrick Vianco confirmed they will be relegated on financial grounds if they fail to find the €1.7m shortfall in this season's budget.

The bombshell news comes after Montauban was one of three Top 14 clubs - and six in total - that was hauled before the all-powerful DNACG on Tuesday. The DNACG is the league's financial watchdog and has the power - as it did with SCA Albi in 2007/8 - to relegate.

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The timing of the announcement is unfortunate on several counts, but this is no April Fool's joke. To avoid almost certain administrative relegation Montauban must now lodge an appeal and somehow find the missing €1.7m.

Vianco, however, doesn't hold out great hope of that as the club's backers are apparently reluctant to dip into their pockets once more.

To further complicate matters Montauban would then also have to finish 12th or higher in the league - by no means a foregone conclusion as they are currently 10th and just three points off the drop zone.

Their plight underlines the current financial fragility of sport generally, but whereas Premiership football clubs appear to have carte blanche to rack up debts of hundreds of millions of pounds, their French rugby cousins must observe strict financial guidelines.

One can only hope that Montauban do find the money they require as no players deserve to have their fate decided by off-field matters. Marc Raynaud's team are presently caught in a dramatic relegation battle that - prior this news - had seemed destined to go all the way down the wire as they scrap for survival alongside Montpellier, Bayonne and Bourgoin.

Stade Francais were one of the other three Top 14 clubs called to account, but it appears they have now convinced the DNACG of their financial predicament - as have Bourgoin - although no official word has yet been released. 

Montauban now have until May 4th to resolve their financial plight, but should they fail to do so their 'punishment' could be even worse. If the club is forced into bankruptcy it would face automatic relegation down to Féderale 3, the bottom rung of the amateur structure and a mighty drop of five divisions.

The financially-stricken club has also confirmed that scrum-half Julien Audy, 25, will leave at the end of the season with the former France A international currently considering offers from several other Top 14 teams as well an English side - believed to be Leicester Tigers.

Elsewhere in France, want-away Montpellier centre Ollie Smith has signed for Guinness Premiership outfit Harlequins for next season.

The 27-year-old former England and Leicester Tigers player had failed to secure a regular start with the Mediterranean club and gave notice of his intent to return to England earlier this season. Smith also said he hoped the move would reignite his stalled international career.

Top 14 Transfers 2010/11

"I will be joining Quins a year before the World Cup, and I am not afraid to say one of the reasons I have returned to England is so I can push for a position in next year's World Cup squad," he explained.

Brive's England centre Riki Flutey is set to make a rare outing for the Limousin club on Saturday - only his fifth of his maiden season in France. Flutey has been named in the Brive squad which entertains Bourgoin on Saturday afternoon amid continuing uncertain of the future of the Kiwi-born player.

Bayonne, meanwhile, have announced that Lionel Mazars, 25, and Sam Gerber, 29, have signed new contracts with the Basque club. Both players still had a year left on their respective contracts but have now extended their deals to 2013.