Preview: Top 14, Round 17
There are two big problems for the Top 14 this round. There is the weather and France are playing in the Six Nations.
There is the saying that something will not happen 'tell hell freezes over', in other words never.
If that is the case hell is not in Europe for Europe is frozen. Even the salty canals of Venice have frozen. Two matches are already off - Agen vs Castres and Lyon vs Brive.
Toulouse and Clermont have been especially hard hit by national service this weekend.
Toulouse will be without Vincent Clerc, Maxime Médard, Yoann Maestri, Louis Picamoles, Thierry Dusautoir, Jean-Baptiste Poux, William Servat and Lionel Beauxis.
Clermont will be without Morgan Parra, Julien Malzieu, Wesley Fofana, Aurélien Rougerie, Julien Bonnaire and Vincent Debaty who are playing for France with and Gonzalo Canale who is playing for Italy against England and Lee Byrne who is on the bench for Wales.
Andrea Lo Cicero and Lionel Nallet will not be playing for Racing-Métro, while Stade Français will be missing David Attoub, Dimitri Szarzewski, Pascal Papé, Sergio Parisse, Tom Palmer and Julien Dupuy.
That is a big chunk out of Top 14 rugby. And there are others like James Hook and Mike Phillips - both on Wales duty.
Fixtures for Round 17:
Friday, February 10:
19.00: Montpellier vs Perpignan at Stade Yves du Manoir (Montpellier)
21.00: Biarritz vs Toulouse at Parc des Sports D'Aguilera
Saturday, February 1:
14.00: Toulon vs Bordeaux-Bègles at Stade Mayol
14.00: Bayonne vs Stade Français at Stade Jean Dauger
14.30: Clermont vs Racing Métro at Parc Des Sports Marcel Michelin
Postponed:
Agen vs Castres at Stade Armandie
Lyon vs Brive at Matmut Stadium
Log after Round 16:
1 Toulouse 60
2 Clermont 50
3 Toulon 45
4 Castres 44
5 Montpellier 40
6 Stade Français 39
7 Racing-Métro 37
8 Agen 36
9 Bordeaux-Bègles 36
10 Brive 28
11 Perpignan 27
12 Lyon 24
13 Biarritz 24
14 Bayonne 23
Predictions: Victories for Montpellier who are on a roll, Biarritz, who are desperate and playing a mutilated Toulouse side, Toulon, Stade Français against troubled Bayonne and Clermont against severely troubled Racing-Métro.
The teams:
Montpellier: 15 Lucas Amorosino, 14 Timoci Nagusa, 13 Thomas Combezou, 12 Paul Bosch, 11 Martín Bustos Moyano, 10 Santiago Fernandez, 9 Julien Tomas, 8 Alex Tulou, 7 Mamuka Gorgodze, 6 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 5 Thibaut Privat, 4 Drikus Hancke, 3 Maximiliano Bustos, 2 Agustin Creevy, 1 Juan Figallo.
Replacements: 16 Erasmus Jansen van Vuuren, 17 Na'ama Leleimalefaga, 18 Alikisio Fakate, 19 Rémy Martin, 20 Benoît Paillaugue, 21 Geoffrey Doumayrou, 22 Yoan Audrin, 23 George Jgenti.
Perpignan: 15 Jérôme Porical, 14 Farid Sid, 13 David Marty, 12 Rudi Coetzee, 11 Adrien Planté, 10 Gavin Hume, 9 Kevin Boulogne, 8 Henri Tuilagi, 7 Jean-Pierre Perez, 6 Grégory Le Corvec, 5 Robins Tchale Watchou, 4 Olivier Olibeau, 3 Danie Thiart, 2 Charles Geli, 1 Perry Freshwater.
Replacements: 16 Guilhem Guirado, 17 Jérôme Schuster, 18 Gerrie Britz, 19 Romain Taofifenua, 20 David Mélé, 21 Joffrey Michel, 22 Bertrand Guiry, 23 Kisi Pulu.
Biarritz: 15 Iain Balshaw, 14 Takudzwa Ngwenya, 13 Marcelo Bosch, 12 Damien Traille, 11 Benoît Baby, 10 Julien Peyrelongue, 9 Yann Lesgougues, 8 Raphaël Lakafia, 7 Manuel Carizza, 6 Benoît Guyot, 5 Pelu Taele, 4 Jérôme Thion, 3 Sylvain Marconnet, 2 Arnaud Heguy, 1 Yvan Watremez.
Replacements: 16 Benoît August, 17 Fabien Barcella, 18 Jean Baptiste Roidot, 19 Florian Faure, 20 Seremaia Burotu, 21 Ilikena Bolakoro, 22 Dane Haylett-Petty, 23 Francisco Gomez Kodela.
Toulouse: 15 Clément Poitrenaud, 14 Timoci Matanavou, 13 Yann David, 12 Luke McAlister, 11 Yves Donguy, 10 Jean-Marc Doussain, Luke Burgess, Gillian Galan, 7 Yannick Nyanga, 6 Jean Bouilhou, 5 Patricio Albacete, 4 Gregory Lamboley, 3 Census Johnston, 2 Christopher Toleafoa, 1 Daan Human.
Replacements: 16 Jaba Bregvadze, 17 Gurthrö Steenkamp, 18 Russlan Boukerou, 19 Sylvain Nicolas, 20 Nicolas Vergallo, 21 Yannick Jauzion, 22 Yohan Montes, 23 Yohan Montes.
Bordeaux-Bègles: 15 Laurent Ferrères, 14 Vungakoto Lilo, 13 Michel Denêtre, 12 Félix Le Bourhis, 11 Thierry Brana, 10 Gerard Fraser, 9 Julien Seron, 8 Louis-Benoît Madaule, 7 Leroy Houston, 6 Charlie Ternisien, 5 François Tisseau, 4 Cameron Treloar, 3 Bees Roux, 2 Fabien Rofes, 1 Laurent Delboulbes.
Replacements: 16 Wayne Avei, 17 Franck Labbé, 18 Adam Jaulhac, 19 Hugh Chalmers, 20 Manu Saubusse, 21 Camille Lopez, 22 Bruce Reihana, 23 Albert Toetu.
Bayonne squad: François Da Ros, David Roumieu, Aretz Iguiniz, Vitolio Manukula, Renaud Boyoud, Clément Baiocco, Mark Chisholm, Rob Linde, Abdellatif Boutaty, Dwayne Haare, Puricelli, Marc Baget, Bernad, Audy, Cédric Garcia, Benjamin Boyet, Jacques-Louis Potgieter, Lionel Mazars, Matthieu Ugalde, Thibault Lacroix, Clement Lagain, Sam Gerber, Joe Rokocoko, Cédric Heymans.
Toulon squad: Steffon Armitage, Bakkies Botha, Sébastien Bruno, Joe El Abd, Laurent Emmanuelli, Pierrick Gunther, Carl Hayman, Mickaël Ivaldi, Davit Kubriashvili, Eifion Lewis-Roberts, Christophe Samson, Simon Shaw, Joe Van Niekerk (captain), Mathieu Bastareaud, Fabien Cibray, Matt Giteau, Benjamin Lapeyre, Geoffroy Messina, Alexis Palisson, Luke Rooney, David Smith, Sébastien Tillous-Borde, Jonny Wilkinson.
Match officials:
Montpellier vs Perpignan at Stade Yves du Manoir (Montpellier)
Referee: Sébastien Cloute
Assistant referees: Nicolas Datas, Dominique Parrini
Television match official: Gilles Cogne
Biarritz vs Toulouse at Parc des Sports D'Aguilera
Referee: Patrick Pechambert
Assistant referees: Jérôme Lamirand, Philippe Gorbenko
Television match official: Eric Gauzins
Agen vs Castres at Stade Armandie
Referee: Christophe Berdos
Assistant referees: Christophe Labaune, Christophe Malterre
Television match official: Daniel Gillet
Lyon vs Brive at Matmut Stadium
Referee: Pascal Gauzere
Assistant referees: Sébastien Minery, Didier Dussaut
Television match official: Jean-Pierre Pellaprat
Toulon vs Bordeaux-Bègles at Stade Mayol
Referee: Salem Attalah
Assistant referees: Laurent Cardona, Bruno Fiche
Television match official: Bernard Dal Maso
Bayonne vs Stade Français at Stade Jean Dauger
Referee: Franck Maciello
Assistant referees: David Rosich, Régis Gabard
Television match official: Philippe Bonhoure
Clermont vs Racing-Métro at Parc Des Sports Marcel Michelin
Referee: Jean-Luc Rebollal
Assistant referees: Vincent Blasco, Christophe Graviou
Television match official: Eric Gonthier