Preview: Toulouse v Harlequins
Toulouse have made seven changes to the side that beat Harlequins last week for Sunday's return fixture in the Heineken Cup.
Toulouse have made seven changes to the side that beat Harlequins last week for Sunday's return fixture in the Heineken Cup.
The most notably, World Cup finalist Jean-Marc Doussain comes into the starting line-up ahead of former Wallaby scrum-half Luke Burgess. Elsewhere in the backline, Yann David replaces Florian Fritz at outside centre.
In the pack, Shaun Sowerby comes off the bench to swap places with Louis Picamoles at number eight, suggesting that the hosts will look to move the ball around more than last week on the fast surface of the Stadium de Toulouse.
Jean Bouilhou comes in on the flank with Yannick Nyanga dropping to the bench.
France lock Romain Millo-Chluski returns to the second row in the place of Grégory Lamboley.
In the front row, Yohan Montes is rotated with Jean-Baptiste Poux, who is amongst the replacements alongside former Harlequin Gary Botha, who loses his starting place to William Servat.
Harlequins have never beaten Toulouse, who top Pool Six, in the Heineken Cup.
Meanwhile, Harlequins have made a handful of changes to their side.
In the backs, Tom Casson returns from an ankle injury at inside centre alongside Matt Hopper, whilst Ugo Monye is ready to start again after returning from injury over the past two weeks.
In the forwards, Joe Marler came off against Toulouse with an abdominal injury which keeps him out this weekend and is replaced by Mark Lambert.
Joe Gray comes back into the starting line up with Chris Brooker dropping to the bench as part of the continued hooker rotation policy from the coaching staff.
Maurie Fa'asavalu picked up a minor injury last week and is replaced in the starting line up by Will Skinner alongside captain Chris Robshaw, who reverts to the flank with Nick Easter at number eight.
The teams:
Stade Toulousain: 15 Maxime Medard, 14 Vincent Clerc, 13 Yann David, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 11 Timoci Matanavou, 10 Luke McAlister, 9 Jean-Marc Doussain, 8 Shaun Sowerby, 7 Thierry Dusautoir, 6 Jean Bouilhou, 5 Romain Millo-Chluski, 4 Yoann Maestri, 3 Census Johnston, 2 William Servat, 1 Yohan Montes.
Replacements: 16 Gary Botha, 17 Jean-Baptiste Poux, 18 Daan Human, 19 Grégory Lamboley, 20 Yannick Nyanga, 21 Louis Picamoles, 22 Luke Burgees, 23 Florian Fritz.
Harlequins:15 Mike Brown, 14 Seb Stegmann, 13 Matt Hopper, 12 Tom Casson, 11 Ugo Monye, 10 Nick Evans, 9 Danny Care, 8 Nick Easter, 7 Will Skinner, 6 Chris Robshaw (c), 5 George Robson, 4 Tomas Vallejos, 3 James Johnston, 2 Joe Gray, 1 Mark Lambert.
Replacements: 16 Chris Brooker, 17 Nic Mayhew, 18 Kyle Sinckler, 19 Charlie Matthews, 20 Luke Wallace, 21 Richard Bolt, 22 Ben Urdapilleta, 23 Tom Williams
Date: Sunday, December 18
Venue: Le Stadium de Toulouse
Kick-off: 16.00 (15.00 GMT)
Referee: Alain Rolland