Top 14, Round 15: Preview

Parra: Back for Clermont

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• Bayonne
• Biarritz

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  • Brive
  • Castres
  • Clermont Auvergne
  • Montpellier
  • Perpignan
  • Racing Metro
  • Stade Francais
  • Toulon
  • Toulouse

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Clermont will look to maintain their return to form when they travel to Stade Sapiac to take on Montauban on Friday.

Second-placed Clermont smashed Bourgoin by nearly 30 points last week to end a four-match win-less streak, regaining some confidence at the same time.

They've also regained their internationals - but only France scrum-half Morgan Parra will play as head coach Vern Cotter has given players like Julien Bonnaire, Thomas Domingo, Martin Scelzo and Jason White a rest. Napolioni Nalaga is also missing with a hand injury.

For Montauban, it's not the best time to be hosting a heavyweight even though Puma Alejandro Campos is back. Three matches without a win have seen MTGXV slip to 11th in the standings. Another loss and they could be deep in the relegation battle

Brive's finally seem to be getting a bit of momentum after their excellent win away in Montpellier last week, but they face a tough test against a full-strength Toulouse side on Saturday.

Les Corréziens have been hit by an H1N1 outbreak, so it's still possible that the match will be called off.

If the game does go ahead, Toulouse will be out to climb back into the top two in the standings. They did some damage control by edging past Montauban last week, but with many of their stars back - including David Skrela - they will look for an improved display before the next round of the Heineken Cup.

Impressive

Toulouse welcome back seven French internationals but are without a number of others including injured Louis Picamoles, Yann David and Jean Baptiste Elissalde.

Guy Novès will be concerned about the Toulousain's record of five losses in six away games. There will be no room for excuses if they lose again.

Impressive in the manner in which they dispatched Toulouse and Biarritz in the last two weeks, Castres will be looking for five more points against struggling Bourgoin.

Chris Masoe has been in barnstorming form for les Tarnais, whose no-frills rugby is proving very hard to match.

Les Berjalliens haven't won in five games and look like favourites to be relegated with Albi. The financial situation at CSBJ is once again causing an unwelcome distraction and Bourgoin fans will be praying for a miracle.

Unbeaten at home this season, Perpignan will be looking to get the train moving again against Montpellier after missing last week's trip to Bayonne because of a swine 'flu outbreak in their ranks.

Having most of their squad in quarantine at the start of the week wouldn't have been the ideal preparation for the champions, but they do welcome back their internationals as they look to close the gap on the leaders. They started training again on Wednesday - behind closed doors. Maxime Mermoz is still out injured, though.

Montpellier represent a healthy test of Perpignan's mid-season form considering the Héraultais won their meeting in round two. The loss of captain Fulgence Ouedraogo is massive blow for Montpol but the return of France fly-half François Trinh-Duc will add to their attack.

After four straight wins, Montpellier were thrashed at home to Brive last week, so some regrouping is needed.

Stade Français, who suffered defeats to Parisian rivals Racing-Metro and then Toulon during the November internationals, host Bayonne at the Stade de France with more than 70,000 tickets already sold for the event. Owner Max Guazzini has once again set up plenty of fanfare.

Stade Français coach Jacques Delmas' honeymoon period is over and he'll be hoping the return of 11 players from international duty (Marconnet, Szarzewski, Dupuy, Mirco and Mauro Bergamasco and Roncero) and injury (Palmer, Burban, Leguizamon, Beauxis and Camara) will revive the Parisian giants' fortunes.

Tough

Delmas admitted that the club needed a win against the Basque club who are languishing in twelfth spot after missing out on a chance to pick up points against Perpignan last week.

"We knew that this period would be tough," said Delmas.

"In two matches, we had the intention of taking five points from ten but we only took two.

"We hope we'll get our internationals back and that everyone will arrive with the desire of getting the club back afloat in the knowledge that we'll have to go looking for points away from home."

Delmas added that the team were eager to win at the Stade de France, a stadium that has proved to be a financial and promotional windfall for the club but where they have failed to win in five outings.

"We have to take away this negative pressure because it's true that Stade lost games here last season and against Perpignan this year because we had a terrible start. The quicker we win there, the better it will be."

Albi have requested for their clash with Biarritz on Sunday to be postponed as they have been struck down by H1N1.

After a nightmare of a first half to the season, Albi have picked up five points in their last two games, including a shock win over champions Perpignan.

However, 10 cases of H1N1 have been reported in the Albi ranks - an unwelcome disturbance considering Biarritz have been bolstered by the return of their Test players.

The Basques will head to Albi in desperate need of a win after defeats to Castres and Racing on Wednesday saw them drop three points shy of the play-off zone. In their third game in eight days, the pressure is on.

Seven consecutive wins have lifted Racing Metro to fifth in the standings, one point ahead of their former ProD2 rivals, Toulon.

Mid-week victory against Biarritz has confirmed Pierre Berbizier's team has real candidates for a spot in Europe next season. Beaten just once on their home turf this season (by Perpignan) les Racingmen are growing in confidence every week.

Toulon have even larger ambitions. Having already claimed the scalps of Clermont and Toulouse this season and after beating Stade Français in Paris last week, their second straight match in the capital will be stern test of their credentials.

The Toulonnaise also had a small swine 'flu scare but are back to near full-strength for Sunday's game.

Juan-Martin Fernandez-Lobbe and Joe El Abd are back in the pack but Joe van Niekerk - who was voted the best foreign players in the league- is still out with injury. Gabirieli Lovobalavu also return amongst the backs.