Clermont v Montauban: Teams

Pumas prop Martin Scelzo will make his long awaited return after being named in the Clermont starting XV to host Montauban.

Scelzo has been sidelined for seven months following shoulder surgery but his scrummaging power has seen him pushed straight back into the Clermont line-up where he will join fellow Puma Mario Ledesma in the front row.

Among the backs, Benoit Baby returns to the starting XV and will play full-back, although there is no place for try-machine Napoliani Nalaga nor Anthony Floch.

A new face the Clermont matchday 22 is young wing Westley Fofana, who will pull on the yellow first-team jersey for the first time. The 20-year-old has risen through the ranks at age-group level and now gets a crack at the big time.

Coach Vern Cotter is clearly not underestimating Montauban and named a settled an experienced pack lead by flanks Julien Bonnaire and Elvis Vermeulen.

Montauban know a victory, even though unlikely, will be enough to take them into third place in the Pool, a place they would have settled for before the start of the tournament.

Julien Laharrague lines up at full-back and will look to guide an exciting back-line into action. Former Hurricanes full-back Shannon Paku gets a start in the thirteen jersey, and is partnered in the midfield by Rida Jahouer.

Clermont: 15 Benoit Baby, 14 Aurélien Rougerie, 13 Gonzalo Canale, 12 Seremaia Baï, 11 Julien Malzieu, 10 Brock James, 9 Pierre Mignoni, 8 Alexabdre Audebert, 7 Elvis Vermeulen, 6 Julien Bonnaire, 5 Loïc Jacquet, 4 Julien Pierre, 3 Martin Scelzo, 2 Mario Ledesma, 1 Laurent Emmanuelli.
Replacements: 16 Mirko Lozupone, 17 Thomas Domingo, 18 Thibault Privat, 19 Emmanuel Etien, 20 John Senio, 21 Pierre-Manuel Garcia, 22 Westley Fofana.

Montauban: 15 Julien Laharrague, 14 Adrien Figueiredo, 13 Shannon Paku, 12 Rida Jahouer, 11 Jean Emmanuel Cassin, 10 Régis Lespinas, 9 Petre Mitu, 8 Fabrice Soldan, 7 Abdellatif Boutaty, 6 Matthew Clarkin, 5 Rowan Frost, 4 Matthias Rolland, 3 Benjamin Sa, 2 Goderzi Shvelidze, 1 Laurent DelBoulbes.
Replacements: 16 Grégory Parriel, 17 Nick Adams, 18 Scott Murray, 19 Karim Ghezal, 20 Johan Dalla Riva, 21 Fabien Fortassin, 22 Fabrice Culinat.