Big guns return for Racing 92 and Toulouse
Racing 92 and Toulouse have been bolstered by the return of several first-choice players for their Champions Cup quarter-final in Paris on Sunday.
The home side have made seven alterations to their side which beat Bordeaux-Begles in their Top 14 encounter last weekend. In the backline, Teddy Thomas replaces Louis Dupichot on the right wing while Virimi Vakatawa starts at outside centre in Olivier Klemenczak’s place.
The final change in the backs sees Finn Russell coming in at fly-half for Ben Volavola, who drops down to the replacements bench.
Veteran hooker Dimitri Szarzewski will skipper the side.
Meanwhile, Toulouse have made five changes to their run-on side which edged out La Rochelle on Sunday. Cheslin Kolbe returns at full-back where he takes over from Thomas Ramos while Yoann Huget comes in for Lucas Tauzin on the right wing.
There’s also a new centre combination with Sofiane Guitoune and Romain Ntamack replacing Theo Belan and Pita Ahki at outside and inside centre respectively.
In the forwards, Francois Cros starts on the openside flank in place of Piula Faasalele, who is relegated to the bench, while Richie Arnold is preferred to Gillian Galan in the second-row.
Former All Blacks back-row Jerome Kaino will captain the side from the number eight position.
The teams:
Racing 92: 15 Simon Zebo, 14 Teddy Thomas, 13 Virimi Vakatawa, 12 Henry Chavancy, 11 Juan Imhoff, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Maxime Machenaud, 8 Antonie Claassen, 7 Bernard Le Roux, 6 Baptiste Chouzenoux, 5 Leone Nakarawa, 4 Donnacha Ryan, 3 Ben Tameifuna, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski (c), 1 Guram Gogichashvili
Replacements: 16 Camille Chat, 17 Eddy Ben Arous, 18 Cedate Gomes Sa, 19 Dominic Bird, 20 Boris Palu, 21 Antoine Gibert, 22 Ben Volavola, 23 Wenceslas Lauret
Toulouse: 15 Cheslin Kolbe, 14 Yoann Huget, 13 Sofiane Guitoune, 12 Romain Ntamack, 11 Maxime Médard, 10 Zack Holmes, 9 Antoine Dupont, 8 Jerome Kaino (c), 7 Francois Cros, 6 Rynhardt Elstadt, 5 Richie Gray, 4 Richie Arnold, 3 Charlie Faumuina, 2 Peato Mauvaka, 1 Cyril Baille
Replacements: 16 Guillaume Marchand, 17 Clément Castets, 18 Maks Van Dyk, 19 Selevasio Tolofua, 20 Piula Faasalele, 21 Sébastien Bézy, 22 Thomas Ramos, 23 Pita Ahki
Date: Sunday, March 31
Venue: La Défense Arena, Paris
Kick-off: 16:15 local (15:15 BST, 14:15 GMT)
Referee: Luke Pearce (England)
Assistant referees: Matthew Carley (England), Tom Foley (England)
Television match official: Rowan Kitt (England)