Preview: Top 14, Round 18
Seven games take place on the Top 14 schedule this weekend with some crucial fixtures happening at both ends of the table.
Montpellier host Toulouse while Bayonne travel to Clermont and Bordeaux-Bègles take on Castres.
Fixtures:
Saturday
La Rochelle v Stade Français
Clermont Auvergne v Bayonne
Pau v Grenoble
Racing 92 v Brive
Toulon v Lyon
Sunday
Bordeaux-Bègles v Castres
Montpellier v Toulouse
La Rochelle v Stade Français
Stade Marcel Deflandre, La Rochelle
La Rochelle will be brimming with confidence going into the game considering their last fixture in the Top 14 was a 23-20 win over Toulon.
The hosts are now on top of the table and a win against Parisian giants Stade Français would give them a comfortable buffer between them and Clermont.
Stade Français find themselves in a rut as they sit 11th on the points table, not somewhere the giants would expect to be at this stage of the competition. A win against the table-toppers might give them the confidence boost that's needed to start a late-season revival.
A win over La Rochelle would mean they could jump to 10th place at the expense of Brive if things go their way.
The teams:
La Rochelle: 15 Kini Murimurivalu, 14 Steeve Barry, 13 Paul Jordaan, 12 Pierre Aguillon, 11 Vincent Rattez, 10 Brock James, 9 Alexis Bales, 8 Victor Vito, 7 Jason Eaton, 6 Romain Sazy, 5 Jone Qovu Nailiko, 4 Mathieu Tanguy, 3 Mohamed Boughanmi, 2 Hikairo Forbes, 1 Mike Corbel
Replacements: 16 Jeremie Maurouard, 17 Jordan Seneca, 18 Leandro Cedaro, 19 Afaesetiti Amosa, 20 Jules Lebail, 21 Levani Botia, 22 Elliot Roudil, 23 Lekso Kaulashvili
Stade Français: 15 Hugo Bonneval, 14 Waisea Nayacalevu, 13 Geoffrey Doumayrou, 12 Jonathan Danty, 11 Jeremy Sinzelle, 10 Morne Steyn, 9 Will Genia, 8 Jono Ross, 7 Sekou Macalou, 6 Sylvain Nicolas, 5 Paul Gabrillagues, 4 Hugh Pyle, 3 Paul Alo-Emile, 2 Laurent Sempere, 1 Heinke Van der Merwe
Replacements: 16 Laurent Panis, 17 Aled De Malmanche, 18 Abdellatif Boutaty, 19 Raphael Lakafia, 20 Clement Daguin, 21 Jules Plisson, 22 Julien Arias, 23 Giorgi Melikidze
Last year’s result: Stade Français 33-20
Kick-off: 14:45 local (13:45 GMT)
Referee: Mathieu Raynal
Clermont Auvergne v Bayonne
Stade Marcel-Michelin, Clermont-Ferrand
If Clermont can secure a win this weekend and La Rochelle fall to Stade Français, they can grab the lead of the competition.
They currently sit on 53 points while La Rochelle are just above them with 54.
Bayonne's ambitions are entirely different though as they will hope for a win to pull themselves off the bottom of the table, where they currently sit on 20 points, with Grenoble just three points above them.
The visitors will want to forget their last game after being dominated by Racing 92 59-20 at Stade Yves Du Manoir.
The teams:
Clermont: 15 Nick Abendanon, 14 David Strettle, 13 Aurelien Rougerie, 12 Damian Penaud, 11 Adrien Plante, 10 Stephen Brett, 9 Charlie Cassang, 8 Fritz Lee, 7 Alexandre Lapandry, 6 Judicael Cancoriet, 5 Arthur Iturria, 4 Sitaleki Timani, 3 Aaron Jarvis, 2 John Ulugia, 1 Etienne Falgoux
Replacements: 16 Benjamin Kayser, 17 Raphael Chaume, 18 Flip van der Merwe, 19 Camille Gerondeau, 20 Ludovic Radosavljevic, 21 Setariki Tuicuvu, 22 Remy Grosso, 23 Michael Simutoga
Bayonne: 15 Martin Bustos Moyano, 14 Julien Tisseron, 13 Felix Le Bourhis, 12 Julien Jane, 11 Bastien Fuster, 10 Raphael Lagarde, 9 Manu Saubusse, 8 PJ Van Lill, 7 Jean Jo Marmouyet, 6 John Beattie, 5 Pablo Huete, 4 Adam Jaulhac, 3 Toma Taufa, 2 Manu Leiataua, 1 Jerome Schuster
Replacements: 16 Simon Labouyrie, 17 Aretz Iguiniz, 18 Guillaume Ducat, 19 Dion Evrard Oulai, 20 Bastien Duhalde, 21 Benjamin Thiery, 22 Thibault Lacroix, 23 Jose Ramon Ayarza
Last year’s result: Did not play
Kick-off: 18:30 local (17:30 GMT)
Pau v Grenoble
Stade du Hameau, Pau
Pau have some serious momentum behind them after a five-game winning streak. They have taken the scalps of Clermont, Bordeaux-Bègles, Montpellier, Toulouse and most recently a 38-15 win over Lyon.
A win over Grenoble would shoot them straight past Castres, Toulon and Toulouse into fourth place if other results go their way.
Grenoble on the other hand will try and stay off the bottom of the table as Bayonne are just three points behind them and nipping at their heels. They're a whole ten points behind their next competitor, Lyon, and will just try and avoid the wooden spoon.
The visitors will go into the game with some confidence though after two consecutive wins over Brive and Stade Français.
The teams:
Pau: 15 Charly Malie, 14 Louis Dupichot, 13 Julien Fumat, 12 Jale Vatubua, 11 Watisoni Votu, 10 Colin Slade, 9 Thibault Daubagna, 8 Steffon Armitage, 7 Sean Dougall, 6 Paddy Butler, 5 Masalosalo Tutaia, 4 Fabrice Metz, 3 Malik Hamadache, 2 Quentin Lespiaucq, 1 Jamie Mackintosh
Replacements: 16 Thomas Bianchin, 17 Jeremy Hurou, 18 Daniel Ramsay, 19 Pierrick Gunther, 20 Julien Tomas, 21 Brandon Fajardo, 22 Mosese Ratuvou, 23 Sylvain Charlet
Grenoble: 15 Gio Aplon, 14 Lucas Dupont, 13 Chris Farrell, 12 Nigel Hunt, 11 Armand Batlle, 10 Jonathan Wisniewski, 9 Charl McLeod, 8 Rory Grice, 7 Fabien Alexandre, 6 Peter Kimlin, 5 Mathias Marie, 4 Hendrik Roodt, 3 Dayna Edwards, 2 Arnaud Heguy, 1 Sona Taumalolo
Replacements: 16 Loick Jammes, 17 Denis Coulson, 18 Mickael Capelli, 19 Mahamadou Diaby, 20 Lilian Saseras, 21 Gilles Bosch, 22 Clement Gelin, 23 Jarrod Firth
Last year’s result: Grenoble won 41-15
Kick-off: 18:30 local (17:30 GMT)
Racing 92 v Brive
Stade Yves Du Manoir, Colombes
Racing need this home win for any hope of progression going into the rest of the season. The Parisians have had a mixed bag of results recently with one draw, two losses and two wins in their last five games.
And a win over Brive will mean they could jump up the table to fourth place from eighth if the other results go their way.
Brive are stuck near the bottom of the table with no real hope of escaping unless the rest of the teams above them capitulate.
They are currently in tenth spot right behind Bordeaux-Bègles, and could potentially leap-frog them this weekend.
The teams:
Racing 92: 15 Brice Dulin, 14 Teddy Thomas, 13 Henry Chavancy, 12 Etienne Dussartre, 11 Juan Imhoff, 10 Franck Pourteau, 9 James Hart, 8 Chris Masoe, 7 So'otala Fa'aso'o, 6 Yannick Nyanga, 5 Leone Nakarawa, 4 Gerbrandt Grobler, 3 Luc Ducalcon, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski, 1 Viliamu Afatia
Replacements: 16 Virgile Lacombe, 17 Khatchik Vartanov, 18 Manuel Carizza, 19 Antonie Claassen, 20 Antoine Gibert, 21 Albert Vulivuli, 22 Joe Rokocoko, 23 Ben Tameifuna
Brive: 15 Benjamin Lapeyre, 14 Takudzwa Ngwenya, 13 Arnaud Mignardi, 12 Sevenaia Galala, 11 Benito Masilevu, 10 Nicolas Bezy, 9 Teddy Iribaren, 8 Petrus Hauman, 7 Poutasi Luafutu, 6 Said Hireche, 5 Jan Uys, 4 Johan Snyman, 3 Patrick-Albert Toetu, 2 Francois Da Ros, 1 Vivien Devisme
Replacements: 16 Guillaume Ribes, 17 Karlen Asieshvili, 18 Arnaud Mela, 19 Fabien Sanconnie, 20 Jean-Baptiste Pejoine, 21 Thomas Laranjeira, 22 Seremaia Burotu, 23 Damien Jourdain
Last year’s result: Draw 15-15
Kick-off: 18:30 local (17:30 GMT)
Toulon v Lyon
Stade Mayol, Toulon
With a few successive victories Toulon could get in control of their prospects in this competition.
The glamour club are fifth on the table behind Castres and if they beat Lyon over the weekend, could jump up to fourth spot.
After two successive losses to Clermont 30-6 and La Rochelle 23-20 a charge for the higher echelons on the table doesn't look likely.
Lyon are also not in the best of spaces as they sit in 12th place on the table. If they were to win away this weekend they could jump above Stade Français and Brive into 10th place.
The teams:
Toulon: 15 Drew Mitchell, 14 Josua Tuisova, 13 Mathieu Bastareaud, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Matt Giteau, 9 Sebastien Tillous-Borde, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Liam Gill, 6 Juan Smith, 5 Romain Taofifenua, 4 Juandre Kruger, 3 Marcel Van der Merwe, 2 Jean Charles Orioli, 1 Laurent DelBoulbes
Replacements: 16 Anthony Etrillard, 17 Xavier Chiocci, 18 Mamuka Gorgodze, 19 Charles Ollivon, 20 Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe, 21 Pierre Bernard, 22 Eric Escande, 23 Levan Chilachava
Lyon: 15 Delon Armitage, 14 Toby Arnold, 13 Paul Bonnefond, 12 Thibault Regard, 11 Hosea Gear, 10 Mike Harris, 9 Nicolas Durand, 8 Carl Fearns, 7 Curtis Browning, 6 Julien Puricelli, 5 Christian Njewel, 4 Felix Lambey, 3 BJ Botha, 2 Ti'I Paulo, 1 Alexandre Menini
Replacements: 16 Cameron Mapusua, 17 Stephane Clement, 18 Maselino Paulino, 19 Dylan Cretin, 20 Baptiste Couilloud, 21 Henry Clunies-Ross, 22 Jerome Porical, 23 David Attoub
Last year’s result: Did not play
Kick-off: 20:45 local (19:45 GMT)
Bordeaux-Bègles v Castres
Stade Chaban-Delmas, Bordeaux
The hosts go into this game with a pretty poor run of form. They had four losses in a row before drawing 23-23 with Clermont at home.
They currently sit ninth and want to use this game to change their fortunes going into the rest of the season.
Castres on the other hand are hot property at the moment. Despite a 22-8 loss to table-toppers La Rochelle, they have recorded some fantastic results including wins over Toulon and most recently a 38-25 win over Montpellier.
A win for Castres will mean they could jump Montpellier for third place on the table.
The teams: TBA
Last year’s result: Bordeaux won 19-16
Kick-off: 12:30 local (11:30 GMT)
Montpellier v Toulouse
Altrad Stadium, Montpellier
Montpellier are in an exciting position going into the clash. If they claim victory over Toulouse on Sunday it would move them ever closer to table-leaders La Rochelle and Clermont.
They are seven points behind them at the moment but a victory at Altrad Stadium would put them in good stead.
Toulouse are amongst the bunch in the middle tussling to make it into higher positions. They are currently sixth on the table and a win on Sunday would give them a serious advantage.
They are, however, not in the best of form after losing two games in a row to Stade Français and Pau at home.
The teams: TBA
Last year’s result: Toulouse won 33-25
Kick-off: 17:00 local (16:00 GMT)