Friday 13 November 2015 11:07, UK
Another action-packed weekend of Top14 rugby awaits as Toulon host leaders Toulouse, while Clermont face Stade Francais.
It's another weekend for massive crowds as Toulon will host leaders Toulouse in Marseille while Clermont face Stade Francais at the Stade de France.
The trend to delocalise clashes to huge football stadiums continues in French rugby and the fans are the winners once again. 50,000 will pack the Stade Vélodrome in Marseille while over 75,000 are expected in Paris.
With just three rounds left before the play-offs, there is no room for error with nine clubs still in contention for just six places.
Toulouse and Racing Métro are virtually assured of making it and face teams under massive pressure on Saturday: Toulon and Perpignan respectively.
The most ferocious battle is likely to take place on Friday however as Agen and La Rochelle face off in what has been dubbed the "relegation final."
If La Rochelle lose, the are relegated. Nine points short of safety les Maritimes are playing for their Top 14 lives.
The hosts have won just once in their last seven starts while Agen are coming off victory at home against Castres.
La Rochelle have left Seru Rabeni on the bench while Greg Goosen starts at full-back ahead of Benjamin Dambielle.
Defending champions Clermont Auvergne travel to Paris under huge pressure. Just five points clear of Bayonne in ninth, les Jaunards could find themselves off the pace in the play-offs race if they don't get a positive result.
The problem is, Clermont haven't won on the road since mid-August. Their record in Paris doesn't offer much encouragement either with just one victory in nine trips to the capital.
Although Stade Francais have nothing to play for in terms of the Top 14, they will see this fixture as a warm for their Amlin Challenge Cup semi-final against Clermont at the end of the month.
The hosts haven't had the best of form at the Stade de France in recent years but with wins against Toulouse and Toulon there this season, that trend seems to be changing. With 75,000 spectators expected, owner Max Guazzini will expect them to put on a good show.
Clermont are coming off a strong home win against Biarritz while Stade Français's only success in their last five games came against lowly Agen.
Alread-relegated Bourgoin host a Castres side looking to book themselves a home play-off.
But Castres's record on the road this season hasn't been great with just one win. Bourgoin also gave Montpellier a hard time a fortnight ago.
Perpignan welcome Racing-Metro just a week after their Heineken Cup success against Toulon. Eighth, and four points short of Biarritz in the last play-off spot the Catalans have no choice but to beat three of the championships' heavyweights in the final weeks: Racing, Toulon and Castres.
USAP's winning streak came to an end with a home loss to Toulouse two weeks ago.
Racing will be the fresher of the two sides having missed out on the European quarter-finals and will be looking to show that their below-par performance in Bayonne last time out was but a momentary dip in form in an otherwise impressive season.
Former Perpignan scrum-half Nicolas Durand will return to the 'Bear pit' at the base of the Racing scrum for what he has described as a potentially "explosive" encounter.
Six days after their 100-minute European humdinger in San Sebastian, Biarritz must lifts themselves for a vital home fixture against Brive.
Victory at Aguilera will represent a potential step towards a spot in the play-offs as the Basques will count on picking up points in Bourgoin on the final day.
Brive have given themselves some breathing room in the relegation battle and showed excellent form in last week's thrilling nine-try Challenge Cup quarter-final against Munster.
But having won in Biarritz just three-time in the post-war era, it seems unlikely that they cause an upset this weekend.
A losing bonus point should be enough to keep les Corréziens in the top flight for another year.
Biarritz are set to be without injured international trio Damien Traille, Imanol Harinordoquy and Sylvain Marconnet.
Montpellier will start as overwhelming favourites when they welcome Bayonne on Saturday.
Unbeaten at home this season, Montpol are in pole position to make the final six. Another win and Fabien Galthié's team will be able to go to Brive and then host Toulon with a lot less pressure.
For Bayonne it's the last chance saloon. Their surprise win over Racing-Métro kept them in the race for a place in Europe, but more movements off the field will not have helped them concentrate on the task at hand.
Controversial Francis Salagoïty has been replaced as club President by Michel Cacouault, who has the backing of the club's principal sponsor, Alain Afflelou.
Montpellier might have won in Bayonne earlier this season, but Bayonne were victorious on their last visit to Stade Yves Du Manoir. In fact the record books have the sides neck-and-neck: Montpellier have won seven games to Bayonne's six in fixtures since 2004.
The remaining fixture sees Toulouse arrive in Marseille with Toulon looking to bounce back from their European misery.
Toulon's only objective is the Top 14 title - but at the moment they won't be thinking that far as qualification for the play-offs is far from guaranteed.
RCT need an faultless finish to the season to have any hope of making the cut, but with matches against Perpignan (home) and Montpellier (away) still to come, the task couldn't be harder.
Toulouse by contrast arrive with zero pressure. Next week's game against doomed Bourgoin will almost certainly book them an automatic place in the semi-finals to go with their berth in Heineken Cup final four.
Guy Noves has openly said they don't really care about the result, but has promised to line-up a competitive team and with places in the squad to travel to Leinster up for grabs, you can be sure the players in question won't lack for motivation. The 50,000 fans at the Stade Vélodrome won't be disappointed.
Toulon have won three out of four of their fixtures with Toulouse since their return to the top flight, including both the previous clashes in Marseille
Toulon have named an 27-man provisional squad including Gevin Henson, Carl Hayman and Jonny Wilkinson but without Juan Fernandez Lobbe and Rudi Wulf, who are injured.
Toulouse are set to rest most of the squad that playing the Heineken Cup quarter-final. Nicolas Vergallo - back from a five-week absence - and Jean-Marc Doussain will form the 9-10 axis since Nicolas Bézy is the latest scrum-half to be injured.
