Preview: Top 14, Round 15

After last weekend’s Top 14 surprises, anything is possible. Two matches immediately stand out, the one in Paris and Sunday’s tough encounter on the massif central.

Clermont will want to make up for last weekend’s drab performance while Toulon will not have taken their hiding happily. The same is true of Stade Français who were humiliated by Bordeaux-Bègles last weekend.

Biarritz showed a great deal of promise last weekend when Dimitri Yachvili was in magnificent form. Surely they would do anything get out of their ignominious position.

François Steyn plays his first match for Racing-Métro this season.

Fixtures, Round 15:

Friday, 6 January 2012
20.45: Agen vs Biarritz at Stade Armandie

Saturday, 7 January 2012
14.15: Toulouse vs Lyon at Stade Ernest Wallon
14.15: Stade Français vs Castres at Stade Charlety (Paris)
14.15: Bayonne vs Bordeaux-Bègles at Stade Jean Dauger
14.15: Brive vs Montpellier at Stade Amédée Domenech
16.15: Perpignan vs Racing-Métro at Stade Aimé Giral

Sunday, 8 January 2012
21.00: Clermont vs Toulon at Parc Des Sports Marcel Michelin

Results in matches between these two teams – but at the other venues in Round Two – are as follows:
Toulouse vs Lyon, 19-9 in Lyon
Bordeaux-Bègles vs Bayonne, 18-6
Clermont vs Toulon 17-0 in Toulon
Biarritz vs Agen, 9-9 in Biarritz
Castres vs Stade Français, 35-10
Brive vs Montpellier, 28-12
Racing-Métro vs Perpignan, 47-23

Log after Round 14:

Bordeaux-Bègles and Lyon have each still got a game in hand.

1 Toulouse 51
2 Clermont 46
3 Castres 40
4 Toulon 39
5 Agen 36
6 Stade Français 34
7 Racing-Métro 34
8 Montpellier 31
9 Bordeaux-Bègles 26
10 Perpignan 25
11 Brive 24
12 Bayonne 22
13 Lyon 20
14 Biarritz 19

Prediction: Victories for Clermont, Toulouse, Bayonne despite the Bordeaux side’s massive win over Stade Français last weekend, Agen, Castres even in Paris because the Pink Panthers have been so erratic this season, Montpellier who are on the rise with their many internationals back and Racing-Métro against a team that has been so out of sorts.

The teams:

Biarritz have big Damien Traille at inside centre and as captain. Fabien Barcella and Romain Terrain are back from injury and on the bench. They have three changes to the side that beat Toulon. Sylvain Marconnet comes into loosehead in the place of Eugene van Staden and Manuel Carizza and Raphaël Lakafia swap places with Florian Faure and Pelu Taele.

Dwayne Haare comes into the Bayonne side in the place of injured Julien Puricelli.

Patricio Albacete, the Puma who had a great World Cup, will be back for Toulouse, for whom Gurthrö Steenkamp is set to play just his second match. Clément Poitrenaud and centre Yann David return from injury. Apart from the props and the flyhalf, Toulouse have changhed the other dozen of their starting team.

Agen: 15 Silvère Tian, 14 Saimoni Vaka, 13 Manu Ahotaeiloa, 12 Jamie Robinson, 11 Brice Dulin, 10 Conrad Barnard, 9 Maxime Machenaud, 8 Ueleni Fono, 7 Adri Badenhorst, 6 Jean Monribot, 5 Lisiate Fa’aoso, 4 Dewald Senekal, 3 Martin Scelzo, 2 Jalil Narjissi, 1 John Schwalger.
Replacements: 16 Semisi Telefoni, 17 Laurent Cabarry, 18 Damien Lagrange, 19 Marc Giraud, 20 Sylvain Dupuy, 21 Junior Palesasa, 22 Miguel Avramovic, 23 Gert Muller.

Biarritz: 15 Iain Balshaw, 14 Takudzwa Ngwenya, 13 Charles Gimenez, 12 Damien Traille, 11 Ilikena Bolakoro, 10 Marcelo Bosch, 9 Dimitri Yachvili, 8 Florian Faure, 7 Benoît Guyot, 6 Wenceslas Lauret, 5 Pelu Taele, 4 Jerome Thion, 3 Francisco Gomez Kodela, 2 Arnaud Heguy, 1 Sylvain Marconnet.
Replacements: 16 Romain Terrain, 17 Fabien Barcella, 18 Manuel Carizza, 19 Raphaël Lakafia, 20 Julien Peyrelongue, 21 Benoît Baby, 22 Dane Haylett Petty, 23 Thomas Lebrequier.

Toulouse: 15 Clément Poitrenaud, 14 Timoci Matanavou, 13 Yann David, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 11 Maxime Médard, 10 Lionel Beauxis, 9 Jean-Marc Doussain, 8 Sean Sowerby, 7 Sylvain Nicolas, 6 Yannick Nyanga, 5 Patricio Albacete, 4 Gregory Lamboley, 3 Census Johnston, 2 Akvsenti Giorgadze, 1 Jean-Baptiste Poux
Replacements: 16 Yohan Montes, 17 Gurthrö Steenkamp, 18 Romain Millo Chlusky, 19 Louis Picamoles, 20 Luke Burgess, 21 Florian Fritz, 22 Yves Donguy, 23 Yassin Boutemane

Lyon:15 Mark van Gisbergen, 14Franck Romanet , 13 Lee Thomas, 12 Latu Fatafehi, 11 Rémy Grosso, 10 Xavier Sadourny, 9 Enrico Januarie, 8 Sisaro Koyamaibole, 7 Juan Leguizamón, 6 Nicolas Bontinck, 5 Coenie Basson, 4 Jean Sousa, 3 Philemon Toleafoa, 2 Jean-Philippe Bonrepaux, 1 Xavier Fiard
Replacements: 16 Vincent Colliat, 17 Arnaud Tchougong, 18 Arnaud Marchois, 19 Eugene N Zi, 20 Tewis de Bruyn, 21Régis Lespinas, 22 Laurent Tranier, 23 Anthony Roux
 
Castres: 15 Romain Teulet 14 Romain Martial, 13 Thomas Sanchou, 12 Seremaia Bai, 11 Maxwell Evans, 10 Pierre Bernard, 9 Rory Kockott, 8 Chris Masoe, 7 Steeve Malonga, 6 Ibrahim Diarra, 5 Scott Murray, 4 Matthias Rolland, 3 Karena Wihongi, 2 Mathieu Bonello, 1 Anton Peikrishvili.
Replacements: 16 Marc Rallier, 17 Saimone Taumoepeau, 18 Jannie Bornman, 19 Yannick Caballero, 20 Pierre Lakafia, 21 Thierry Lacrampe, 22 Paul Bonnefond, 23 Luc Ducalcon 

Stade Français: 15 Paul Warwick, 14 Paul Sackey, 13 Paul Williams, 12 Martin Rodriguez, 11 Julien Arias, 10 Felipe Contepomi, 9 Julien Dupuy, 8 Sergio Parisse (captain), 7 David Lyons, 6 Pierre Rabadan, 5 Pascal Papé, 4 Gerhard Mostert, 3 David Attoub, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski, 1 Stanley WrightRodrigo Roncero
Replacements: 16 Laurent Sempéré, 17 Rabah Slimani, 18 Tom Palmer, 19 LaValla, 20 Jérôme Fillol, 21 Morgan Turinui, 22 Jules Plisson, 23 Aled  De Malmanche.

Bayonne: 15 Cédric Heymans, 14 Joe Rokocoko, 13 Thibault Lacroix, 12 Lionel Mazars, 11 Sam Gerber, 10 Benjamin Boyet, 9 Mike Phillips, 8 Sione Lauaki, 7 Jean-Joseph Marmouyet, 6 Dwayne Haare, 5 Abdellatif Boutaty, 4 Rob Linde (captain), 3 Neemia Tialata, 2 David Roumieu, 1 Aretz Iguiniz
Replacements: 16 François Da Ros, 17 Vitolio Manukula, 18 Troy Flavell, 19 Marc Baget, 20 Cédric Garcia, 21 Clément Otazo, 22 Marvin O’Connor, 23 Denis Avril

Bordeaux-Bègles: 15 Bruce Reihana, 14 Thierry Brana, 13 Julien Rey, 12 Felix Le Bourhis, 11 Rafale Carballo, 10 Camille Lopez, 9 Heini Adams, 8 Matthew Clarkin, 7 Hugh Chalmers, 6 Justin Purll, 5 Adam Jaulhac, 4 Daniel Leo’o, 3 Silviu Florea, 2 Wayne Avei, 1 Laurent Delboulbes
Replacements: 16 Fabien Rofes, 17 Hikairo Forbes, 18 Cameron Treloar, 19 Louis Madaule, 20 Julien Seron, 21 Gérard Fraser, 22 Blair Connor, 23 Albert Toetu 

Brive: 15 Scott Spedding, 14 Julien Caminati,, 13 Arnaud Mignardi, 12 Riaan Swanepoel, 11 Ronald Cooke, 10 Mathieu Belie, 9 Jean-Baptiste Pejoine, 8 Antonie Claassen, 7 Alexandre Bias, 6 Vincent Forgues, 5 Olivier Caisso, 4 Retief Uys, 3 Pablo Cardinali, 2 Virgile Lacombe, 1 Pablo Henn
Replacements: 16 Iuri Natriashvili, 17 Davit Khinchagishvili, 18 Arnaud Mela, 19 Simon Azoulai, 20 Julien Ledevedec, 21 Agustin Figuerola, 22 Jacques Boussuge, 23  Vasil Kakovin
 
Montpellier:  15 Lucas Amorosino, 14 Martín Bustos Moyano, 13 Thomas Combezou, 12 Paul Bosch, 11 Yoan Audrin, 10 François Trinh-Duc (captain), 9 Julien Tomas, 8 Alex Tulou, 7 Mamuka Gorgodze, 6  Fulgence Ouedraogo, 5 Thibaut Privat, 4 Drikus Hancke, 3 George Jgenti, 2 Rassie Jansen van Vuuren, 1 Na’ama Leleimalefaga
Replacements: 16 Agustin Creevy, 17 Mikheil Natriashvili, 18 Mickaël De Marco, 19 Rémy Martin, 20 Benoît Paillaugue, 21 Masinivanua Matadigo, 22 Santiago Fernandez, 23 Maximiliano Bustos

Perpignan: 15 Joffrey Michel, 14 Farid Sid, 13 David Marty, 12 Maxime Mermoz, 11 Rudi Coetzee, 10 James Hook, 9 Kevin Boulogne, 8 Damien Chouly, 7 Ovidiu Tonita, 6 Bertrand Guiry, 5 Robins Tchale Watchou, 4 Olivier Olibeau, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 Guilhem Guirado, 1 Jérôme Schuster
Replacements: 16 Charles Geli, 17 Kisi Pulu, 18 Romain Taofifenua, 19 Grégory Le Corvec, 20 Jean-Pierre Perez, 21 Florian Cazenave, 22 Gavin Hume, 23 Benoît Bourrust

Racing-Métro: 15 Juan Imhoff, 14 Sireli Bobo, 13 Henry Chavancy, 12 Fabrice Estebanez, 11 Julien Saubade, 10 Jonathan Wisniewski, 9 Mathieu Lorée, 8 Jacques Cronjé, 7 Antoine Battut, 6 Rémi Vaquin, 5  François Van der Merwe, 4 Lionel Nallet (captain), 3 Mikaele Tu’ugahala, 2 Benjamin Noirot, 1 Julien Brugnaut.
Replacements: 16 Gregory Arganèse, 17 Andrea Lo Cicero, 18 Karim Ghezal, 19 John Leo’o, 20 Sébastien Descons, 21 Joshua Matavesi, 22 François Steyn , 23 Juan Pablo Orlandi

Match officials:

Agen vs Biarritz
Referee: Romain Poite
Assistant referees: Stéphane Boyer, René Bordeneuve
Television match official: Gilles Cogne

Toulouse vs Lyon
Referee: Frank Maciello
Assistant referees: Jérôme Lamirand, Christophe Clavere
Television match official: Vincent Azoulay

Stade Français vs Castres
Referee: Patrick Pechambert
Assistant referees: Christophe Dutreuilh, Laurent Sclafer
Television match official: Hervé Dubes

Bayonne vs Bordeaux-Bègles
Referee: Céderic Marchat
Assistant referees: Alain Blondel, Jérôme Lamarque
Television match official: Jean-Claude Levrier

Brive vs Montpellier
Referee: Laurent Cardona
Assistant referees: Nicholas Datas, Sébastien Hebert
Television match official: Daniel Irazoqui

Perpignan vs Racing-Métro
Referee: Jean-Luc Rebollal
Assistant referees: Akim Hadj Bachir, Christophe Graviou
Television match official: Bernard Dal Maso

Clermont vs Toulon
Referee: Christophe Berdos
Assistant referees: Salem Attalah, Régis Gabard
Television match official: Eric Gauzins