Top 14: Round 22 preview

France's domestic league enters the final straight with three teams facing the prospect of relegation and joining Albi in the drop to the ProD2

Montauban, Bayonne and Bourgoin have five games left to save their bacon - while at the other end of the table the race is hotting up for the play-offs and European places.

Two in-forms team lock horns at fortress Felix Mayol on Friday as Toulon clash with league leaders Castres for the fourth time this season after having been drawn in the same European Challenge Cup pool.

Toulon convincingly won both those European games while Castes narrowly won at home in the Top 14 back in October.

The home side have a near-full strength squad at their disposal with only absentee being Jonny Wilkinson since Sébastien Bruno has recovered from a minor foot problem.

It took a last-gasp effort to get the better of Biarritz, last week, but Toulon remain unbeaten at home.

Thanks to a bonus-point win against Albi last week, Bayonne put their heads above water but must raise their game once again as they host Clermont.

Just two points clear of the drop zone, the Basques are playing for survival, but the Six Nations schedule might just have thrown them a lifeline as Clermont travel west missing seven internationals.

But Bayonne don't have a great record at home against the heavy hitters: Castres, Toulon, Perpignan, Racing and Toulouse have all take four points from Stade Jean Dauger this season and the absence of Italy fly-half Craig Gower from the home side won't help them.

After being upset by Toulon, Toulouse bounced back in the best possible manner by thumping Stade Français in Paris last Saturday - and they will look to build on this against Montpellier.

Even without their Six Nations players, the Toulousains have the resources to mount a serious challenge for a place in the top two.

With Clermont and Castres both on the road this weekend Toulouse - like Perpignan - will know they have a golden opportunity to close the gap on the leaders.

But Guy Novès' team will do well not to underestimate a Montpellier side who have caused a few upsets this season and are in desperate need of points.

Crucial

If a couple of results elsewhere don't go their way, Montpol could find themselves on the edge of the relegation zone at the end of the weekend.

Deprived of François Trinh-Duc but with Fulgence Ouedraogo leading the charge, les Montpelliérains will look to sneak a losing bonus point before another tough trip to Clermont.

Bourgoin enter the third week of a crucial period that could save them from relegation - with a trip to Albi next up.

With two wins from their previous do-or-die battles against Bayonne and Montauban, les Berjalliens could take a huge step towards securing their survival against a side with nothing to loose but nothing much to gain.

After six straight losses, Albi have only a very far-fetched mathematical chance to avoiding the drop.

Stade Français' hopes of reaching the play-offs are fading fast as they travel to Stade Amédée Domenech, where Brive are undefeated since October.

The Parisians have won just once on the road this season - last month in Bourgoin - although they have picked up no less than four draws on their travels.

Six points off the play-off pace, Stade's confidence took a massive blow in being humiliated by Toulouse last week and their squad is seriously depleted with influential players such as Mathieu Bastareaud, Dimitri Szarzewski, James Haskell and the Bergamasco brothers away on Six Nations duty.

Lionel Beauxis is set to play at full-back while Charlie Davies fills in at fly-half and Ignacio Mieres shifts from ten to nine.

Stade's flamboyant president Max Guazzini was furious beyond belief following last Saturday's limp display at the Stade de France and coaches Jacques Delmas and Didier Faugeron have read the riot act to the players.

Two points worse off than their visitors, Brive ambitions of making it back into Europe are also hanging by a shoestring.

Denied

Off the back of two losses - to Biarritz and Castres - a third negative result will spell the end of their chances of making the cut.

Good news for the Correziens is the return from injury of South African loose forward Gerhard Vosloo and fly-half Fabrice Estebanez.

After being denied victory over Toulon at the very death last week, the clash of the weekend is a case of last chance saloon for Biarritz as they head to Perpignan.

Already trailing the play-offs cut off by eight points, an unlikely win in Catalogne is a nonnegotiable.

The task is as difficult as the come since Perpignan are unbeaten at Aimé-Giral in the Top 14 this season.

To make matters worse, the Six Nations has deprived BO of Imanol Harinordoquy and Dimitri Yachvili, arguably their two best players. But the Basques will draw encouragement from the teams' previous meeting, when they outclassed the defending champions to win 27-12.

Perpignan are fuming after loose forward Grégory Le Corvec was slapped with a pre-inquiry suspension after being cited for allegedly eye-gouging Clermont lock Jamie Cudmore.

Nicolas Mas, David Marty, Ovidiu Tonita and Marius Tincu are all away on national duty while Rimas Alvarez-Kairélis and Julien Candelon are on the injury list.

Better news for Perpignan fans however is that Gerrie Britz, Gavin Hume, Jérôme Porical, Perry Freshwater, Maxime Mermoz and Jean-Pierre Perez are available.

Montauban have their backs to the wall and will be counting on the fierce Sapiac crowd to give Racing Metro a hot reception in Saturday's only game.

Toulon, Biarritz, Clermont and Perpignan have all left Sapiac empty handed this season, and another big performance is needed if the green armada are to lift themselves out of the relegation zone.

Racing on the other hand are fighting for a place in the top six and will be smarting from their last-minute loss to Montpellier last week.

With Sébastien Chabal and Lionel Nallet in duty with les Bleus and young fly-half sensation Jonathan Wisniewski out for a month with a hamstring tear, Pierre Berbizier's men will need to draw on all their resources.