Top 14: Team news ahead of Clermont v Castres live on Sky Sports
Last Updated: 20/12/14 6:51pm
Clermont coach Frank Azema has made wholesale changes to his pack for his side's Top 14 encounter against Castres on Saturday evening, citing a need for fresh legs.
Thomas Domingo has been rested, which means a run-on start for loosehead prop Raphael Chaume. On the other side of the scrum, last week's replacement prop Clement Ric has been given the nod to start ahead of Davit Zirakashvili who moves to the bench.
Julien Pierre partners Sebastian Vahaamahina in the second row while the entire back row has been shuffled.
Last week's blindside Damien Chouly has moved to openside flank, with Julien Bonnaire and Julien de Sousa Bardy being included in the starting line-up this weekend.
Centre Benson Stanley comes in for Aurelien Rougerie in the only change for the backs.
Mihaita Lazar comes in at loosehead prop for Castres and there is a new second row pairing in the form of Richie Gray and Rodrigo Capo Ortega, with the latter captaining the side.
Yannick Caballero is the only loose forward to retain his place, though he moves from openside to to fill the No 8 jersey and Mathieu Babillot and William Whetton come into the side.
In the backs only Remi Grosso and Thomas Combezou return for this week's fixture.
Remi Tales and Rory Kockott form the half-back pairing with Romain Cabannes getting a start ahead of Remi Lamerat in the midfield.
Full-back Geoffrey Palis gets a start while last week's replacement wing Sitiveni Sivivatu takes the number 14 jersey with Max Evans dropping to the bench.
Clermont: 15 Nick Abendanon, 14 Noa Nakaitaci, 13 Benson Stanley, 12 Wesley Fofana, 11 Zac Guildford, 10 Camille Lopez, 9 Morgan Parra, 1 Raphael Chaume, 2 John Ulugia, 3 Clement Ric, 4 Julien Pierre, 5 Sebastian Vahaamahina, 6 Julien Bonnaire, 7 Damien Chouly, 8 Julien de Sousa Bardy.
Replacements: 16 Benjamin Kayser, 17 Vincent Debaty, 18 Loic Jacquet, 19 Alexandre Lapandry, 20 Ludovic Radosavljevic, 21 Mike Delany, 22 Napolioni Nalaga, 23 Davit Zirakashvili.
Castres: 15 Geoffrey Palis, 14 Sitiveni Sivivatu, 13 Thomas Combezou, 12 Romain Cabannes, 11 Remi Grosso, 10 Remi Tales, 9 Rory Kockott, 1 Mihaita Lazar, 2 Marc-Antoine Rallier, 3 Yohan Montes, 4 Richie Gray, 5 Rodrigo Capo Ortega (c), 6 Mathieu Babillot, 7 William Whetton, 8 Yannick Caballero.
Replacements: 16 Brice Mach, 17 Gregory Marmoiton, 18 Christophe Samson, 19 Jan de Bruin Bornman, 20 Cedric Garcia, 21 Dan Kirkpatrick, 22 Max Evans, 23 Paea Fa'anunu.
Watch Clermont v Castres live on Sky Sports 2, with coverage from 7.45pm on Saturday evening.
