Preview: Top 14, Round 18

Some more big decisions are being made this weekend – who will be in contention for top six and who will be in danger of relegation.

There had been talking of increasing the Top 14 to a Top 16, which would have eliminated relegation but that has been put off for a year and so Brive, Bayonne, Perpignan, Biarritz and Lyon are in jeopardy.

The glamour match of the weekend is at Stade de France on Sunday afternoon when, weather permitting, Stade Français play Toulon. Then for the bottom four there are desperate matches.

Racing will be interesting, just to see if they are getting over their debilitating squabbles.

Fixtures, Round 17

Friday, 17 February 2012

20.45 Perpignan vs Biarritz at Stade Aimé Giral 

Saturday, 18 February

14.15: Bordeaux-Bègles vs Montpellier at Stade André Moga
14.15: Bayonne vs Clermont at Stade Jean Dauger
14.15: Brive vs Castres at Stade Amédée Domenech
14.15: Lyon vs Racing-Métro at Matmut Stadium
14.15: Toulouse vs Agen at Stade Ernest Wallon
16.15: Stade Français vs Toulon at Stade de France (Saint-Denis)

Log after Round 17

Agen, Castres, Lyon and Brive have a game in hand.

1 Toulouse 65
2 Clermont 59
3 Toulon 50
4 Castres 44
5 Montpellier 44
6 Stade Français 40
7 Racing-Métro 37
8 Agen 36
9 Bordeaux-Bègles 36
10 Brive 28
11 Bayonne 27
12 Perpignan 27
13 Biarritz 25
14 Lyon 24

Predictions: Victories for Perpignan, Montpellier, Clermont, Castres, Racing-Métro, Toulouse and Stade Français.

The teams:

After a suspension of 120 days, Olivier Missoup is back for Racing-Métro.

Yohann Huget and Wales scrumhalf Mike Phillips are back for embattled Bayonne.

Perpignan: 15 Joffrey Michel, 14 Farid Sid, 13 David Marty, 12 Rudi Coetzee, 11 Adrien Planté, 10 Gavin Hume, 9 Kevin Boulogne, 8 Henri Tuilagi, 7 Jean-Pierre Perez, 6 Grégory Le Corvec, 5 Robins Tchale Watchou, 4 Olivier Olibeau, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 Marius Tincu, 1 Perry Freshwater.
Replacements: 16 Guilhem Guirado, 17 Jérôme Schuster, 18 Romain Taofifenua, 19 Damien Chouly, 20 Florian Cazenave, 21 Maxime Mermoz, 22 Nicolas Laharrague, 23 Danie Theart.

Biarritz: 15 Iain Balshaw, 14 Takudzwa Ngwenya, 13 Dane Haylett-Petty, 12 Damien Traille, 11 Benoît Baby, 10 Damien Traille, 9 Yann Lesgougues, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 7 Talalelei Gray, 6 Wenceslas Lauret, 5 Pelu Taele, 4 Jérôme Thion, 3 Francisco Gomez Kodela, 2 Benoît August, 1 Sylvain Marconnet.
Replacements: 16 Arnaud Heguy, 17 Fabien Barcella, 18 Manuel Carizza, 19 Raphaël Lakafia, 20 Benoît Guyot, 21 Jean-Pascal Barraque, 22 Ilikena Bolakoro, 23 Campbell Johnstone

Bordeaux-Bègles: 15 Bruce Reihana, 14 Rafael Carballo, 13 Julien Rey, 12 Andrew Mai.lei, 11 Blair Connor, 10 Camille Lopez, 9 Heini Adams, 8 Matthew Clarkin, 7 Hugh Chalmers, 6 Justin Purll, 5 Adam Jaulhac, 4 Cameron Treloar, 3 Bees Roux, 2 Wayne Avei, 1 Hikairo Forbes
Replacements: 16 Fabien Rofes, 17 Laurent Delboulbes, 18 François Tisseau, 19 Leroy Houston, 20 Julien Seron, 21 Gerard Fraser, 22 Félix Le Bourhis, 23 Albert Toetu

Montpellier: 15 Lucas Amorosino, 14 Timoci Nagusa, 13 Paul Bosch, 12 Santiago Fernandez, 11 Yoan Audrin, 10 François Trinh-Duc, 9 Benoît Paillaugue, 8 Alex Tulou, 7 Mamuka Gorgodze, 6 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 5 Thibaut Privat, 4 Drikus Hancke, 3 George Jgenti, 2 Agustin Creevy, 1 Juan Figallo.
Replacements: 16 Erasmus Jansen van Vuuren, 17 Na’ama Leleimalefaga, 18 Alikisio Fakate, 19 Rémy Martin, 20 Julien Tomas, 21 Thomas Combezou, 22 Martin Bustos Moyano, 23 Maximiliano Bustos.

Bayonne: 15 Cédric Heymans, 14 Yoann Huget, 13 Thibault Lacroix, 12 Lionel Mazars, 11 Joe Rokocoko, 10 Jacques-Louis Potgieter, 9 Cédric Garcia, 8 Marc Baget, 7 Dwayne Haare, 6 Guillaume Bernad, 5 Mark Chisholm, 4 Abdellatif Boutaty, 3 Renaud Boyoud, 2 David Roumieu, 1 Aretz Iguiniz
Replacements: 16 François Da Ros, 17 Clément Baiocco, 18 Troy Flavell, 19 Julien Puricelli, 20 Mike Phillips, 21 Benjamin Boyet, 22 Sam Gerber, 23 Vitolio Manukula

Clermont: 15 Jean-Marcellin Buttin, 14 Brent Russell, 13 Regan King, 12 Noa Nakaitaci, 11 Sitiveni Sivivatu, 10 David Skrela, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Elvis Vermeulen (captain), 7 Alexandre Lapandry, 6 Gerhard Vosloo, 5 Julien Pierre, 4 Jamie Cudmore, 3 Daniel Kotze, 2 Benjamin Kayser, 1 Vincent Debaty.
Replacements: 16 Benoît Cabello, 17 Lionel Faure, 18 Loïc Jacquet, 19 Jason White, 20 Ludovic Radosavljevic, 21 Brock James, 22 Anthony Floch, 23 Clément Ric. 

Brive 15 Scott Spedding, 14 Ronnie Cooke, 13 Julien Caminati, 12 Arnaud Mignardi, 11 Guillaume Namy, 10 Shane Geraghty, 9 Agustin Figuerola, 8 Julien Ledevedec, 7 Thibault Dubarry, 6 Poutasi Luafutu, 5 Arnaud Méla, 4 Retief Uys, 3 Vasil Kakovin, 2 Virgile Lacombe, 1 Davit Kinchagishvili.
Replacements: 16 Iuri Natriashvili, 17 Pablo Henn, 18 Olivier Caisso, 19 Antonie Claassen, 20 Vincent Forgues, 21 Mathieu Belie, 22 Jamie Noon, 23 Pablo Cardinali.

Castres: 15 Romain Teulet 14 Romain Martial, 13 Paul Bonnefond, 12 Seremaia Bai, 11 Marc Andreu, 10 Pierre Bernard, 9 Rory Kockott, 8 Chris Masoe, 7 Ibrahim Diarra, 6 Yannick Caballero, 5 Rodrigo Capo Ortega, 4 Matthias Rolland, 3 Karena Wihongi, 2 Mathieu Bonello, 1 Yannick Forestier.
Replacements: 16 Marc Rallier, 17 Michael Coetzee, 18 Scott Murray, 19 Jannie Bornman, 20 Thierry Lacrampe, 21 Pierre Garcia, 22 Pierre Lakafia. 23 Luc Ducalcon.

Lyon: 15 Mark van Gisbergen, 14 Franck Romanet, 13 Vinaya Wakanivuga, 12 Nicolas Raffault, 11 Rémy Grosso, 10 Régis Lespinas, 9 Enrico Januarie, 8 Sisaro Koyamaibole, 7 Juan Leguizamón, 6 Eugene N Zi, 5 Coenie Basson, 4 Arnaud Marchois, 3 Philemon Toleafoa, 2 Vincent Colliat, 1 Xavier Fiard.
Replacements: 16 Antonio Testa, 17 Anthony Roux, 18 Arnaud Dorier, 19 Vincent Clément, 20 Brice Salobert, 21 Latu Fatafehi, 22 Laurent Tranier, 23 Sébastien Petit.

Racing-Métro: 15 Juan Imhoff, 14 Sireli Bobo, 13 Henry Chavancy, 12 Fabrice Estebanez, 11 Mirco Bergamasco, 10 Juan Martín Hernández, 9 Sébastien Descons, 8 Jacques Cronjé, 7 Bernard le roux, 6 John Leo’o, 5 François van der Merwe , 4 Lionel Nallet (captain), 3 Mikaele Tu’ugahala, 2 Thomas Bianchin, 1 Julien Brugnaut.
Replacements: 16 Benjamin Noirot, 17 Andrea Lo Cicero, 18 Jone Qovu, 19 Álvaro Galindo, 20 Mathieu Lorée, 21 Gaëtan Germain, 22 Virimi Vakatawa, 23 Juan Pablo Orlandi.

Toulouse: 15 Clément Poitrenaud, 14 Timoci Matanavou, 13 Yann David, 12 Luke McAlister, 11 Yves Donguy, 10 Lionel Beauxis, 9 Luke Burgess, 8 Sean Sowerby, 7 Sylvain Nicolas, 6 Yannick Nyanga, 5 Patricio Albacete, 4 Romain Millo Chlusky, 3 Census Johnston, 2 William Servat, 1 Daan Human.
Replacements: 16 Jaba Bregvadze, 17 Jean-Baptiste Poux, 18 Yoann Maestri, 19 Gillian Galan, 20 Jean-Marc Doussain, 21 Vincent Clerc, 22 Florian Fritz, 23 Yohan Montes.

Agen: 15 Silvère Tian, 14 Saimoni Vaka, 13 Manu Ahotaeiloa, 12 Miguel Avramovic, 11 Brice Dulin, 10 Junior Palesasa, 9 Maxime Machenaud, 8 Opeti Fonua, 7 Marc Giraud, 6 Jean-Joseph Monribot, 5 Patrick O’Connor, 4 Dewald Senekal, 3 Gert Muller, 2 Semisi Telefoni, 1 John Schwalger.
Replacements: 16 Julien Janaudy, 17 Laurent Cabarry, 18 Andrew Springgay, 19 Adri Badenhorst, 20 Sylvain Dupuy, 21 Mathieu Lamoulie, 22 Belisario Agulla , 23 Beka Sheklashvili.

Stade Français: 15 Djibril Camara, 14 Paul Sackey, 13 Morgan Turinui, 12 Martin Rodriguez, 11 Julien Arias, 10 Paul Warwick, 9 Julien Dupuy, 8 Sergio Parisse, 7 Pierre Rabadan, 6 David Lyons, 5 Pascal Papé, 4 Tom Palmer, 3 David Attoub, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski, 1 Rodrigo Roncero.
Replacements: 16 Aled De Malmanche, 17 Francisco Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 18 Gerhard Mostert, 19 Scott Lavalla, 20 Byron Kelleher, 21 Felipe Contepomi, 22 Jules Plisson, 23 Stanley Wright.

Toulon: 15 Benjamin Lapeyre, 14 Alexis Palisson, 13 Mathieu Bastareaud, 12 Matt Giteau, 11 David Smith, 10 Jonny Wilkinson, 9 Sébastien Tillous-Borde, 8 Joe van Niekerk, 7 Steffon Armitage, 6 Olivier Missoup, 5 Christophe Samson, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 Carl Hayman , 2 Sébastien Bruno, 1 Laurent Emmanuelli.
Replacements: 16 Jean-Charles Orioli, 17 Eifion Lewis-Roberts, 18 Simon Shaw, 19 Joe El Abd, 20 Geoffroy Messina, 21 Luke Rooney, 22 Fabien Cibray, 23 Davit Kubriashvili.

Match officials:

Perpignan vs Biarritz at Stade Aimé Giral
Referee: Romain Poite
Assistant referees: David Rosich, Pascal Ubeda
Television match official: J Levrier

Bordeaux-Bègles vs Montpellier at Stade André Moga
Referee: Christophe Berdos
Assistant referees: Sébastien Minery, Dominique Parrini
Television match official: Gérard Borreani

Bayonne vs Clermont at Stade Jean Dauger
Referee: Laurent Cardona
Assistant referees: Flavien Hourquet, Sébastien Hebert
Television match official: Hervé Dubes

Lyon vs Racing-Métro at Matmut Stadium
Referee: Cédric Marchat
Assistant referees: Salem Attalah, Laurent Sclafer
Television match official: Laurent Valin

Toulouse vs Agen at Stade Ernest Wallon
Referee: Stéphane Pomarède
Assistant referees: Arnaud Blondel, Jérôme Lamarque
Television match official: Jean-Pierre Pellaprat

Stade Français vs Toulon at Stade de France (Saint-Denis)
Referee: Mathieu Raynal
Assistant referees: Patrick Pechambert, Thomas Dejean
Television match official: Jean-Marie Piraveau

Brive vs Castres at Stade Amédée Domenech
Referee: Jérôme Garces
Assistant referees: Sébastien Cloute, Patrick Beuriot
Television match official: Vincent Azoulay