Preview: Top 14, Round 10
Mumps is still playing its part in France’s Top 14 fixtures and two matches have been postponed as a result. The matches Lyon vs Montpellier and Biarritz vs Bayonne have been postponed. Toulon vs Agen is also off because of heavy rain.
In theoir the big match of the day is at Stade de France when Stade Français host Clermont, but the pink Parisians are going to have to improve on recent showings to make a game of it.
Fixtures, Round 10:
Friday, 4 November 2011:
20.45: Brive vs Racing-Métro
Saturday, 5 November 2011:
14.05: Toulouse vs Perpignan
14.15: Toulon vs Agen
14.15: Bordeaux-Bègles vs Castres
16.15: Stade Français vs Clermont
Log after Round Nine:
Lyon and Bordeaux-Bègles each have a game in hand.
1 Clermont 35
2 Toulouse 32
3 Castres 31
4 Toulon 28
5 Agen 24
6 Racing Métro 21
7 Perpignan 18
8 Brive 18
9 Stade Français 16
10 Bayonne 15
11 Montpellier 14
12 Bordeaux-Bègles 13
13 Lyon 12
14 Biarritz 10
Prediction: Victories for Racing-Métro who are gathering strength while Brive are losing players, Toulouse, Toulon, who will not have it easy, Castres and Clermont.
Team news:
Brive who have suffered many injuries, have engaged the former Shark three-quarter Riaan Swanepoel as a medical joker after he spent time at Clermont Auvergne as a World Cup joker. Swanepoel comes in for Jacques Boussuge who has an injured knee and was uncertain but then chosen to start. Others in the Brive sickbay are Mathieu Belie, Agustin Figuerola, Victor Laval, Guillaume Ribes, Guillaume Namy, Vincent Forgues, Petrus Hauman, Clément Marienval, Yann Fior, Simon Azoulai, Nicolas Jeanjean and Shane Geraghty. But this was not the end of it. Late in the week they lost hooker Virgile Lacombe to an injury to his left calf. Iuri Natriashvili will take his place at hooker with Pablo Henn coming onto the bench.
French internationals Lionel Nallet and Fabrice Estebanez are back for Racing-Métro as is Juan Martin Hernández, who is at flyhalf, but not Springbok François Steyn. Also absent are Benjamin Fall, Sébastien Chabal, Mirco Bergamasco and François van der Merwe.
Toulon have acquired the Argentinian loose forward Leonardo Senatore as a medical joker to cover for Juan Fernandez Lobbe who is out for six months following the rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. Senatore is not on the squad for Saturday. Alexis Palisson will be playing his first game for Toulon this weekend in the place of Geoffroy Messina, who is injured. Gabriele Lovobalavu, who was at the World Cup, also plays his first match for the club and Jone Tawake and Julien Dumora are back from injury. But Matt Giteau has not yet arrived and Jocelino Suta, Joe Van Niekerk, Juan Martín Fernandez Lobbe and Stéphane Munoz are injured and Olivier Missoup continues with his long suspension.
Agen are without Marc Giraud who has been suspended for 20 days for stamping on a player on the ground. Saimuni Vaka, who had a slight injury to his shoulder, is being rested. Centre Junior Palesasa has played in every match this season and is uncertain but Jamie Robinson of Wales, Kevin Swiryn of the USA and Manu Ahotaeiloa of Tonga will add to the club’s squad.
Jamie Cudmore and Jason White are both doubtful to turn out for Clermont who play Stade Français at Stade de France on Saturday. Thomas Domingo is certainly out as he will undergo an operation on his knee on Friday and then will be out of action for at least six months.
Wallaby scrumhalf Luke Burgess, who was recently married, arrived in Toulouse this week. Gary Botha has an ankle injury and has not yet played for the club nor will he this weekend.
Bordeaux-Bègles are without loose forward Hugh Chalmers as well as Julien Turini and Rafaël Carballo. But Hikairo Forbes, Louis-Benoît Madaule, Andrew Ma’ilei, Patrick Toetu and Justin Purll make their return.
Stade Français have French internationals, Pascal Papé and Dimitri Szarzewski, back in their side for their posh match at Stade de France but Byron Kelleher, Julien Arias and Anton van Zyl are out. Van Zyl broke a leg at training and is out for another two months.
Bordeaux-Bègles squad: Wayne Avei, Matthew Clarkin, Laurent Delboulbes, Silviu Florea, Hikairo Forbes, Adam Jaulhac, Daniel Leo, Louis-Benoît Madaule, Justin Purll, Fabien Rofes, Jacobus Roux, Charlie Ternisien, François Tisseau, Patrick Toetu, Cameron Treloar, Heini Adams, Thierry Brana, Blair Connor, Laurent Ferreres, Gerard Fraser, Félix Le Bourhis, Vungakoto Lilo, Camille Lopez, Andrew Ma’ilei, Bruce Reihana, Julien Seron.
Brive: 15 Julien Caminati, 14 Jacques Boussuge, 13 Arnaud Mignardi, 12 Jamie Noon, 11 Ronnie Cooke, 10 Scott Spedding, 9 Mathieu Belie, 8 Julien Ledevedec, 7 Alexandre Bias, 6 Antonie Claassen, 5 Arnaud Méla (captain), 4 Retief Uys, 3 Pablo Cardinali, 2 Iuri Natriashvili, 1 Vasil Kakovin.
Replacements: 16 Davit Kinchagishvili, 17 Pablo Henn, 18 Thibault Dubarry, 19 Olivier Caisso, 20 Tasi Luafutu, 21 Jean-Baptiste Pejoine, 22 Ayite Atayi, 23 Pat Barnard.
Racing-Métro: 15 Gaëtan Germain, 14 Sireli Bobo, 13 Virimi Vakatawa, 12 Guillaume Boussès, 11 Juan Jose Imhoff 10 Juan Martín Hernández, 9 Mathieu Lorée, 8 Jacques Cronjé (captain), 7 Antoine Battut, 6 Rémi Vaquin, 5 Jone Qovu, 4 Karim Ghezal, 3 Juan Pablo Orlandi, 2 Gregory Arganèse, 1 Andrea Lo Cicero.
Replacements: 16 Benjamin Noirot, 17 Eddy Ben Arous, 18 Lionel Nallet, 19 Johnny Leo’o, 20 Nicolas Durand, 21 Jonathan Wisniewski, 22 Fabrice Estebanez, 23 Johan Coetzee.
Toulouse: 15 Maxime Médard, 14 Timoci Matanavou, 13 Florian Fritz, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 11 Yves Donguy, 10 Luke McAlister, 9 Jean-Marc Doussain, 8 Shaun Sowerby, 7 Louis Picamoles, 6 Jean Bouilhou, 5 Romain Millo Chlusky, 4 Grégory Lamboley, 3 Johnson Falefa, 2 William Servat, 1 Jean-Batiste Poux.
Replacements: 16 TBC, 17 Yohan Montes, 18 Yoann Maestri, 19 Yannick Nyanga, 20 Nicolas Vergallo, 21 Lionel Beauxis, 22 Clément Poitrenaud, 23 Census Johnston.
Perpignan: 15 Joffrey Michel, 14 Farid Sid, 13 David Marty, 12 Maxime Mermoz, 11 Armand battle, 10 James Hook, 9 Florian Cazenave, 8 Damien Chouly, 7 Jean-Pierre Perez, 6 Ovidiu Tonita, 5 Robins Tchale Watchou, 4 Olivier Olibeau (captain), 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 Guilhem Guirado, 1 Perry Freshwater.
Replacements: 16 Charles Geli, 17 Jérôme Schuster, 18 Romain Taofifenua, 19 Yohan Vivalda, 20 Bertrand Guiry, 21 David Mélé, 22 Rudi Coetzee, 23 Kisi Pulu.
Bordeaux-Bègles: 15 Bruce Reihana, 14 Vungakoto Lilo, 13 Félix Le Bourhis, 12 Andrew Mailei, 11 Blair Connor, 10 Gerard Fraser, 9 Heini Adams, 8 Matthew Clarkin (captain), 7 Daniel Leo, 6 Justin Purll, 5 Adam Jaulhac, 4 Cameron Treloar, 3 Silviu Florea, 2 Wayne Avei, 1 Laurent Delboulbès.
Replacements: 16 Fabien Rofes, 17 Hikairo Forbes, 18 François Tisseau, 19 Charlie Ternisien, 20 Julien Seron, 21 Camille Lopez, 22 Thierry Brana, 23 Jaco Roux.
Castres: 15 Romain Teulet, 14 Pierre-Gilles Lakafia, 13 Max Evans, 12 Remi Lamerat, 11 Marc Andreu, 10 Pierre Bernard, 9 Alexandre Albouy, 8 Joe Tekori, 7 Yannick Caballero, 6 Chris Masoe (captain), 5 Rodrigo Capo Ortega, 4 Scott Murray, 3 Luc Ducalcon, 2 Mathieu Bonello, 1 Michael Coetzee.
Replacements: 16 Brice Mach, 17 Anton Peikrishvili, 18 Benjamin Desroche, 19 Steeve Malonga, 20 Jannie Bornman, 21 Romain Cabannes, 22 Remi Tales, 23 Karena Wihongi.
Stade Français: 15 Paul Warwick, 14 Paul Sackey, 13 Paul Williams, 12 Martin Rodriguez, 11 Francis Fainifo, 10 Felipe Contepomi, 9 Julien Dupuy, 8 Sergio Parisse, 7 Pierre Rabadan, 6 David Lyons, 5 Pascal Pape, 4 Gerhard Mostert, 3 David Attoub, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski, 1 Rodrigo Roncero.
Replacements: 16 Aled De Malmanche, 17 Rabah Slimani, 18 Tom Palmer, 19 Scott Lavalla, 20 Antoine Burban, 21 Jérôme Fillol, 22 Morgan Turinui, 23 Stanley Wright.
Clermont: 15 Lee Byrne, 14 Kini Murimurivalu, 13 Regan King, 12 Gonzalo Canale, 11 Noa Nakaitaci, 10 David Skrela, 9 Ludovic Radosavljevic, 8 Elvis Vermeulen (captain), 7 Gerhard Vosloo, 6 Jason White, 5 Nathan Hines, 4 Jamie Cudmore, 3 Davit Zirakashvili, 2 Benjamin Kayser, 1 Lionel Faure.
Replacements: 16 Ti’i Paulo, 17 Vincent Debaty, 18 Julien Bardy, 19 Alexandre Audebert, 20 Kevin Senio, 21 Brock James, 22 Jean-Marcellin Buttin, 23 Clément Ric.
Match officials:
Stade Français vs Clermont at Stade Charlety
Referee: George Clancy (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Laurent Cardona, Christophe Malterre
Television match official: Jean-Marie Piraveau
Toulon vs Agen at Stade Mayol
Referee: Neil Paterson (Scotland)
Assistant referees: Cédric Marchat, Laurent Sclafer
Television match official: Bruno Bessot
Brive vs Racing-Métro 92 at Stade Amédée-Domenech
Referee: Greg Garner (England)
Assistant referees: Jean-Luc Rebollal, Dominique Parrini
Television match official: Bernard Dal Maso
Toulouse vs Perpignan at Stade Ernest-Wallon
Referee: JP Doyle (England)
Assistant referees: Jérôme Garces, Patrick Beuriot
Television match official: Gérard Borreani
Bordeaux-Bègles vs Castres at Stade André Moga
Referee: Carlo Damasco (Italy)
Assistant referees: Sébastien Cloute, Christophe Clavere
Television match official: Lauren Valin
