Top 14: Round 12 preview

There is a full round of Top 14 action on Thursday night with Toulon's visit to Perpignan the headline fixture.

Toulouse stormed to the top of the standings last weekend and look in unstoppable form. They are set to continue their strong run when they face stone-last Bourgoin at the Stade des Alpes in Grenoble.

Montpellier continue to surprise in second place and will fancy their chances at home to struggling Brive.

After a super start to the season, Bayonne's fall from grace has been spectacular and the Basques face another tough task in Paris against Stade Français.

Relegation candidates Agen and La Rochelle are both at home this week but face heavyweight opposition in the form of Racing Metro and Clermont respectively.

Elsewhere, Biarritz are at home to fellow European campaigners Castres.

Heavy defeats

Toulon's trip to Perpignan is without doubt the big match of Round 12. Perpignan started slowly this season but have hit a solid run of form having lost just once in eight games.

The Catalans will still be ruing the last-minute penalty in Paris last weekend that allowed Racing to sneak a draw, but they will be encouraged by the performance of their pack.

Toulon on the other hand have hit a negative spiral. Three consecutive losses in all competitions, including heavy defeats to Munster and Toulouse have left President Mourad Boudjellal furious.

After the drubbing in Toulouse Les Varois went straight to a training camp in Canet-en-Roussillon where they were joined by Boudjellal who called the players in one-by-one for a dressing down.

A fourth game on the road, at the near impenetrable fortress that is Stade Aimé Giral has not come at a good time. But Toulon can at least count on the return of a number of senior players including Joe van Niekerk, George Smith, Pierre Mignoni and Paul Sackey.

Victory over La Rochelle last week has given Agen new hope of avoiding the drop and the Pro D2 champions welcome Racing Metro on Thursday night.

After leading the standings for a couple of rounds, les Franciliens have laboured somewhat in their last two matches at home and will be looking to regain some form on the road.

Agen have named an unchanged starting XV while Racing will send a very strong side including Francois Steyn in the midfield, Sebastien Chabal at number eight and Jonathan Wisniewski, who has been called up to the France team, at fly-half.

La Rochelle host a Clermont side who played their best game of the season last weekend to sweep aside Stade Français. Les Jaunards finally seem to have found some form as they look to close the gap on the leading quartet.

What could be better for picking up some points than a match against struggling newcomers who are decimated by injury? But Clermont have not been great on the road this season with just one win away from home.

Les Maritimes are sure to give the ball some air and put up the usual courageous fight, but surely they won't trouble the champions.

Biarritz will be looking to continue their great form when they host Castres.

BO have won all five of their games in October and lost just once in their last nine starts.

Castres are in pretty good nick too coming off three straight wins, including consecutive bonus-point victories over Agen and Bourgoin.

Two points behind Biarritz, a win on the road - as they did last season - would be an ideal way to start the November holidays but Castres have yet to win away from home this term.

Damien Traille and Dimitri Yachvili have been awesome for the Basques hosts and form the half-back pairing while Imanol Harinordoquy returns to the back row.

Bad news however is the serious injury to South African prop Eduard Coetzee, who needed surgery to a broken arm and will be sidelined for two to three months.

It's a big blow for Biarritz who are already without France prop Fabien Barcella for the rest of the season.

Leaders in mid-September, the wheels have come off the Bayonne bus in spectacular fashion and things won't get any easier when they travel to Stade Francais.

Stade were looking good after three consecutive wins, but were totally outplayed in Clermont last week. Despite the heavy loss, the Parisians have made significant strides forward since last season.

Bayonne trail their hosts by just three points in the standings but have never won in Paris.

Complacent

Stade Français coach Michael Cheika was a happy man on Tuesday when England flanker James Haskell showed up for training after being relapsed by Martin Johnson. He will however have to do without Tom Palmer, who starts for England at Twickenham on Saturday.

Two teams in two very different situations face-off on the Mediterranean coast as Montpellier host Brive.

While Montpellier continue to fly high thanks to victory on the road in Bayonne last week, Brive are on the verge of crisis.

A second-half meltdown and subsequent loss at home to Biarritz last week extended the Corréziens winless run to five games and they are now dangerously close to being dragged into the relegation scrap.

Fabien Galthié's team on the other hand are unbeaten at home and even without injured fly-half François Trinh-Duc (out for six weeks), les Heraultais will back themselves to bag another four points before the holiday break. Argentine Santiago Fernandez will wear the number ten jersey.

But the home side cannot be complacent considering Brive have won in Montpol three time in the last four seasons, including last year.

The remaining fixture sees bottom-placed Bourgoin host Toulouse at Stade des Alpes.

The last thing Bourgoin need at the moment is a match against the Big Red Machine. They've moved the game to the soccer stadium at nearby Grenoble, but it's unlikely to make any difference to the scoreline..

A few of Guy Novès' boys are also still stinging from being left out of the national team, so don't expect them to do Bourgoin any favours.