Preview: Top 14, Round 12

The big Top 14 match this weekend is at magnificent Stade de France when Stade Français host neighbours Racing-Métro who are determined to surpass Stade as Paris's dominant club.

It is not the only top match as Toulouse and Toulon meet in Toulouse and Agen, who have been doing surprisingly well this season, receive Bayonne who played their Basque derby on Tuesday, which may have taken something out of their legs.

Clermont-Castres looks close. In fact all of the matches this weekend are touch-and-go affairs. But would it not be good if flair and good manners prevailed.

Fixtures for Round 12:

Friday, 2 December 2011
20.45: Bordeaux vs Brive at Stade André Moga

Saturday, 3 December 2011
14.05: Toulouse vs Toulon at Stadium De Toulouse
14.05: Clermont vs Castres at Parc Des Sports Marcel Michelin
16.15: Stade Français vs Racing Métro at Stade De France (Saint-Denis)

Sunday, 4 December 2011
15.00: Lyon vs Perpignan at Matmut Stadium
15.00: Agen vs Bayonne at Stade Armandie
17.05: Biarritz vs Montpellier at Parc Des Sports D'Aguilera

Log after Round 11:

There were two catch-up matches during the week which have effected the log. Biarritz beat Bayonne in the Basque Derby and come off the bottom after Lyon lost to Montpellier.

The team suffering a downward trend at the moment is Perpignan who have dropped three places.

1 Toulouse 38
2 Clermont 36
3 Castres 33
4 Toulon 30
5 Racing Métro 30
6 Agen 28
7 Stade Français 26
8 Montpellier 22
9 Brive 21
10 Bayonne 20
11 Perpignan 19
12 Bordeaux 17
13 Biarritz 14
14 Lyon 13

Predictions: Victories for Brive, Toulouse, Clermont, Stade Français, Perpignan, Bayonne and Montpellier.

The teams:

As team information becomes available we shall publish it.

Racing are still without injured François Steyn, Fabrice Estebanez, Guillaume Boussès and Albert VuliVuli.

Bordeaux-Bègles: 15 Bruce Reihana, 14 Rafael Carballo, 13 Julien Rey, 12 Felix Le Bourhis, 11 Blair Connor, 10 Gerard Fraser, 9 Heini Adams, 8 Matthew Clarkin, 7 Daniel Leo'o, 6 Justin Purll, 5 Adam Jaulhac, 4 Cameron Treloar, 3 Silviu Florea, 2 Wayne Avei, 1 Hikairo Forbes.
Replacements: 16 Fabien Rofes, 17 Laurent Delboulbes, 18 Hugh Chalmers, 19 Leroy Houston, 20 Julien Seron, 21 Camille Lopez, 22 Vungakoto Lilo, 23 Albert Toetu.

Brive: 15 Scott Spedding, 14 Jacques Boussuge, 13 Arnaud Mignardi, 12 Jamie Noon, 11 Ronald Cooke, 10 Riaan Swanepoel, 9 Mathieu Belie, 8 Antonie Claassen, 7 Simon Azoulai, 6 Petrus Hauman, 5 Arnaud Méla, 4 Thibault Dubarry, 3 Patrick Barnard, 2 Iuri Natriashvili, 1 Pablo Henn.
Replacements: 16 Louis Acosta, 17 Vasil Kakovin, 18 Olivier Caisso, 19 Julien Ledevedec, 20 Alexandre Bias, 21 Jean Baptiste Pejoine, 22 Guillaume Namy, 23 Alexandre Barozzi.

Toulouse: 15 Clement Poitrenaud, 14 Vincent Clerc, 13 Florian Fritz, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 11 Timoci Matanavou, 10 Luke McAlister, 9 Luke Burgess, 8 Louis Picamoles, 7 Thierry Dusautoir, 6 Jean Bouilhou, 5 Yoann Maestri, 4 Gregory Lamboley, 3 Census Johnston, 2 William Servat, 1 Jean Baptiste Poux.
Replacements: 16 Gary Botha, 17 Yohan Montes, 18 Shaun Sowerby, 19 Sylvain Nicolas, 20 Jean Marc Doussain, 21 Yann David, 22 Maxime Médard, 23 Johnson Falefa.

Toulon: 15 Alexis Palisson, 14 Christian Loamanu, 13 Gabriele Lovobalavu, 12 Matthew Giteau, 11 David Smith, 10 Jonathan Wilkinson, 9 Sébastien Tillous Borde, 8 Jone Tawake, 7 Steffon Armitage, 6 Leonardo Senatore, 5 Kristian Chesney, 4 Christophe Samson, 3 Carl Hayman, 2 Jean Philippe Genevois, 1 Romain Frou.
Replacements: 16 Sébastien Bruno, 17 Laurent Emmanuelli, 18 Dean Schofield, 19 Pierrick Gunther, 20 Benjamin Lapeyre, 21 Mathieu Bastareaud, 22 Laurent Magnaval, 23 Davit Kubriashvili.

Clermont: 15 Lee Byrne, 14 Noa Nakaitaci, 13 Aurélien Rougerie, 12 Wesley Fofana, 11 Sitiveni Sivivatu, 10 Brock James, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Elvis Vermeulen, 7 Alexandre Lapandry, 6 Julien Bonnaire, 5 Nathan Hines, 4 Julien Pierre, 3 Clément Ric, 2 Benjamin Kayser, 1 Lionel Faure.
Replacements: 16 Ti'i Paulo, 17 Vincent Debaty, 18 Jason White, 19 Alexandre Audebert, 20 Ludovic Radosavljevic, 21 David Skrela, 22 Regan King, 23 Daniel Kotze.

Castres: 15 Romain Teulet 14 Romain Martial, 13 Maxwell Evans, 12 Romain Cabannes, 11 Pierre Gilles Lakafia, 10 Pierre Bernard, 9 Thierry Lacrampe, 8 Jannie Bornman, 7 Yannick Caballero, 6 Ibrahim Diarra, 5 Joe Tekori, 4 Matthias Rolland, 3 Luc Ducalcon, 2 Mathieu Bonello, 1 Anton Peikrishvili.
Replacements: 16 Marc Rallier, 17 Michael Coetzee, 18 Scott Murray, 19 Steve Malonga, 20 Rory Kockott, 21 Rémi Tales, 22 Seremaia Bai, 23 Karena Wihongi.

Stade Français: 15 Paul Warwick, 14 Paul Sackey, 13 Paul Williams, 12 Martin Rodriguez, 11 Julien Arias, 10 Felipe Contepomi, 9 Julien Dupuy, 8 Sergio Parisse, 7 Pierre Rabadan, 6 David Lyons, 5 Pascal Papé, 4 Tom Palmer, 3 David Attoub, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski, 1 Rodrigo Roncero.
Replacements: 16 Aled De Malmanche, 17 Rabah Slimani, 18 Gerhard Mostert, 19 Antoine Burban, 20 Jerome Fillol, 21 Morgan Turinui, 22 Francis Fainifo, 23 Stanley Wright.

Racing-Métro: 15 Jonathan Wisniewski, 14 Sireli Bobo, 13 Henry Chavancy, 12 Virimi Vakatawa, 11 Julien Saubade, 10 Juan Martín Hernández, 9 Nicolas Durand, 8 Sébastien Chabal, 7 Bernard Le roux, 6 John Leo o, 5 Lionel Nallet, 4 Karim Ghezal, 3 Juan Pablo Orlandi, 2 Benjamin Noirot, 1 Mikaele Tu'ugahala.
Replacements: 16 Thomas Bianchin, 17 Eddy Ben Arous, 18 Jone Qovu Nailiko, 19 Antoine Battut, 20 Sébastien Descons, 21 Joshua Matavesi, 22 Rémi Vaquin, 23 Julien Brugnaut.

Lyon: 15 Romain Loursac, 14 Franck Romanet, 13 Latu Fatafehi, 12 Waisale Seru Sukanaveita, 11 Rémy Grosso, 10 Xavier Sadourny, 9 Enrico Januarie, 8 Sisaro Koyamaibole, 7 Vincent Clement, 6 Juan Leguizamón, 5 Coenie Basson, 4 Arnaud Marchois, 3 Tariel Ratianidze, 2 Antonio Testa, 1 Xavier Fiard.
Replacements: 16 Jean-Philippe Bonrepaux, 17 Arnaud Tchougong, 18 Pierre Vigouroux, 19 Nicolas Bontinck, 20 Romain Veniat, 21 Régis Lespinas, 22 Mark van Gisbergen, 23 Antoine Guillamon.

Perpignan: 15 Jérôme Porical, 14 Adrien Planté, 13 Rudolf Coetzee, 12 Maxime Mermoz, 11 Joffrey Michel, 10 Nicolas Laharrague, 9 Florian Cazenave, 8 Damien Chouly, 7 Ovidiu Tonita, 6 Bertrand Guiry, 5 Robins Tchale Watchou, 4 Olivier Olibeau, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 Guilhem Guirado, 1 Perry Freshwater.
Replacements: 16 Charles Geli, 17 Kisi Pulu, 18 Gerrie Britz, 19 Jean Pierre Perez, 20 Kevin Boulogne, 21 Gavin Hume, 22 Gregory Le Corvec, 23 Danie Thiart.

Agen: 15 Silvère Tian, 14 Saimoni Vaka, 13 Manu Ahotaeiloa, 12 Junior Palesasa, 11 Brice Dulin, 10 Conrad Barnard, 9 Maxime Machenaud, 8 Ueleni Fono, 7 Adri Badenhorst, 6 Jean Monribot, 5 Lisiate Fa'aoso, 4 Dewald Senekal, 3 Gert Muller, 2 Jalil Narjissi, 1 John Schwalger.
Replacements: 16 Julien Janaudy, 17 Laurent Cabarry, 18 Patrick O'Connor, 19 Damien Lagrange, 20 Alexi Bales, 21 Miguel Avramovic, 22 Jamie Robinson, 23 Martin Scelzo.

Bayonne: 15 Cédric Heymans, 14 Yoann Huget, 13 Thibault Lacroix, 12 Sam Gerber, 11 Marvin O'Connor, 10 Benjamin Boyet, 9 Cédric Garcia, 8 Sione Lauaki, 7 Marc Baget, 6 Guillaume Bernad, 5 Abdellatif Boutaty, 4 Rob Linde, 3 Renaud Boyoud, 2 David Roumieu, 1 Aretz Iguiniz.
Replacements: 16 François Da Ros, 17 Nemiah Tialata, 18 Troy Flavell, 19 Julien Puricelli, 20 Julien Audy, 21 Clement Lagain, 22 Lionel Mazars, 23 Vitolio Manukula.

Biarritz: 15 Dane Haylett-Petty , 14 Takudzwa Ngwenya, 13 Marcelo Bosch, 12 Damien Traille, 11 Iain Balshaw, 10 Julien Peyrelongue, 9 Luix Roussarie, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 7 Raphael Lakafia, 6 Benoît Guyot, 5 Erik Lund, 4 Jerome Thion, 3 Sylvain Marconnet, 2 Benoît August, 1 Fabien Barcella.
Replacements: 16 Arnaud Heguy, 17 Yvan Watremez, 18 Pelu Taele, 19 Talalelei Gray, 20 Yann Lesgougues, 21 Benoît Baby, 22 Ilikena Bolakoro, 23 Eugene van Staden.

Montpellier: 15 Lucas Amorosino, 14 Timoci Nagusa, 13 Geoffrey Doumayrou, 12 Thomas Combezou, 11 Martin Bustos Moyano, 10 François Trinh-Duc, 9 Benoît Paillaugue, 8 Masinivanua Matadigo, 7 Mamuka Gorgodze, 6 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 5 Thibaut Privat, 4 Drikus Hancke, 3 Maximiliano Bustos, 2 Agustin Creevy, 1 Na'ama Leleimalefaga.
Replacements: 16 Rassie Jansen van Vuuren, 17 Mikheil Natriashvili, 18 Mickaël De Marco, 19 Alex Tulou, 20 Rémy Martin, 21 Santiago Fernandez, 22 Yoan Audrin, 23 George Jgenti.

Match officials:

Bordeaux vs Brive at Stade André Moga
Referee: Jean-Luc Rebollal
Assistant referees: Vincent Blasco Baque, Christophe Graviou
Television match official: Bernard Dal Maso
 
Toulouse vs Toulon at stadium De Toulouse
Referee: Pascal Gauzere
Assistant referees: Patrick Pechambert, Didier Dussaut
Television match official: Philippe Bonhoure
 
Clermont vs Castres at Parc Des Sports Marcel Michelin
Referee: Laurent Cardona
Assistant referees: Christophe Labaune, Sébastien Hebert
Television match official: Eric Gonthier
 
Stade Français vs Racing Métro at Stade De France (Saint-Denis)
Referee: Mathieu Raynal
Assistant referees: Stéphane Pomarède, Thomas Dejean
Television match official: Vincent Azoulay

Lyon vs Perpignan at Matmut Stadium
Referee: Christophe Berdos
Assistant referees: Alain Blondel, Dominique Parrini
Television match official: Gérard Borreani
 
Agen vs Bayonne at Stade Armandie
Referee: Frank Maciello
Assistant referees: Stéphane Boyer, Régis Gabard
Television match official: Eric Gauzins
 
Biarritz vs Montpellier at Parc Des Sports D'Aguilera
Referee: Romain Poite
Assistant referees: Laurent Millotte, Pascal Ubeda
Television match official: Bruno Bessot