Toulon gets Giteau boost
The French giants currently trail the reigning champions, Saracens, by eight points and have to visit the Allianz Park in Round Six.
They host Sale in Round Five, when Giteau could make his first European appearance of the season.
Now 34, Giteau was a key man in Toulon's hat-trick of titles between 2013 and 2015 and brings a huge amount of experience with him.
He suffered a broken ankle and an additional fracture to his leg playing for Australia against New Zealand in the Championship, but has fought his way back to full fitness.
With 103 caps for the Wallabies, including two World Cups finals, he could be just the man to spark a late push for a quarterfinal berth by Toulon after being registered as an additional player by the TOP 14 outfit in place of fellow Aussie Matt Carraro.
Pool Five leaders ASM Clermont Auvergne have added New Zealand flyhalf Stephen Brett to their squad in place of Hosea Gear, while Connacht have drafted in two players to help ease their injury crisis.
Former Ireland Under-20 centre Tom Farrell could find himself making the leap from the English Championship to the Champions Cup this weekend against Zebre after signing from Bedford Blues.
Farrell has been brought in to replace Cormac Brennan, while prop John Andress, who has European experience with Harlequins, Worcester Warriors, Exeter Chiefs and Edinburgh, has taken over from Conan O'Donnell.
The full list of players that have been nominated by their clubs as Additional Players from Round Five for the 2016/17 European Champions Cup are listed below.
Each club may select three additional players during the course of the pool stage, one of whom must be a front row player. The nominated additional player will replace a registered member of the club's squad and no club will exceed 41 players at any time during the pool stages.
The deregistered player may return to the squad at a later date during the pool stage and replace the additional player he was originally replaced by. Clubs must ensure that the additional player has not been nominated in a match squad of another club in the same tournament during the current season.
The additional player will be eligible to play in the next round of pool matches if his nomination is received by EPCR by noon GMT on the Tuesday before the match. The player must have at least a three-month contract with the club.
CHAMPIONS CUP ADDITIONAL PLAYERS
ASM Clermont Auvergne
Additional player: Stephen BRETT
Nationality: New Zealand
Position: Flyhalf
Deregistered: Hosea Gear
Connacht
Additional player: John ANDRESS
Nationality: Ireland
Position: Prop
Deregistered: Conan O'Donnell
Additional player: Tom FARRELL
Nationality: Ireland
Position: Centre
Deregistered: Cormac Brennan
Exeter Chiefs
Additional player: Stuart TOWNSEND
Nationality: England
Position: Scrumhalf
Deregistered: Dave Ewers
Leicester Tigers
Additional player: Charlie THACKER
Nationality: England
Position: Centre
Deregistered: Manu Tuilagi
Northampton Saints
Additional player: Juan Pablo ESTELLES
Nationality: Argentina
Position: Centre
Deregistered: Jamie Elliott
RC Toulon
Additional player: Matt GITEAU
Nationality: Australia
Position: Centre
Deregistered: Matt Carraro
Sale Sharks
Additional player: Will ADDISON
Nationality: England
Position: Wing
Deregistered: Denny Solomona
Saracens
Additional player: Ben EARL
Nationality: England
Position: No.8
Deregistered: Billy Vunipola
Scarlets
Additional player: Nicky THOMAS
Nationality: Wales
Position: Prop
Deregistered: Luke Garrett
Toulouse
Additional player: Julien MARCHAND
Nationality: France
Position: Hooker
Deregistered: Peato Mauvaka
Ulster
Additional player: Jonny SIMPSON
Nationality: Ireland
Position: Prop
Deregistered: Dan Tuohy
Zebre
Additional player: Kurt BAKER
Nationality: New Zealand
Position: Centre
Deregistered: Giovanni D'Onofrio
