Top 14 Play-Offs: Underdogs Racing-Métro and Castres out to confound the form book

06 May 2010

Top 14 Play-Off Quarterfinals:

Clermont Auvergne v Racing-Métro 92
Stade Marcel Michelin, May 7, 21.00

Stade Toulousain v Castres
Le Stadium, May 8, 16.30

Ten-times runners-up Clermont Auvergne have received mixed news on the fitness front going into their home quarter-final against Racing-Métro 92. France scrum-half Morgan Parra has been passed fit and will take his place in the starting XV, but Argentine hooker Mario Ledesma has been ruled out with a knee problem.

Parra's fitness will give Clermont a valuable second place-kicking option should fly-half Brock James suffer another off day - such as his Heineken horror show against Leinster.

The Australian squandered 23 points in that match - which Clermont lost by just one - and his confidence is bound to be tested again on Friday night. James was more concerned about his opponents than his own game this week, however, singing the praises of All Blacks veteran Andrew Mehrtens, who is likely to start on the bench for Racing.

"When I was young he was an example for me," said James. "I love the way he plays. He has the ability to control and manage the game," he added.

Clermont coach Vern Cotter, meanwhile, has backed James to produce the goods on Friday night. "Brock is a tough-as-teak competitor," said the Kiwi coach. "I know he will come back as strong as ever," he added.

Top 14 Table  / Top 14 try-scorers / Top 14 Results / Top 14 Fixtures

Clermont, who are aiming to reach their fourth successive Top 14 final, have named Benoit Cabello in place of Ledesma, with captain Aurélien Rougerie starting at full-back in place of Anthony Floch.

Rougerie's selection has in part been forced by the return to fitness (and form) of former Springbok centre Marius Joubert, in partnership with Italian Gonzalo Canale. Fijian Napolioni Nalaga and France's Julien Malzieu start on the wings, as expected.

French international Julien Pierre has been preferred to Thibault Privat in the second row, with Canadian Jamie Cudmore partnering Pierre. The back row will be made up of Elvis Vermeulen, Julien Bonnaire and Alexander Lapandry.

Clermont's heartbreaking quest to lift the Bouclier de Brennus reached new levels of tragedy last season when they lost their third successive final, and their 10th in all, and 'Les Jaunards' are out once more to finally disprove their 'chokers' tag.

Racing's assistant coach Simon Mannix admitted his team are "rank outsiders" to lift the Top 14 title, but said getting to the play-offs was achievement enough in their first season back in the French elite.

"Don't forget 10 of our squad were playing division two last year," he said. "But w have had a terrific season and we are capable of beating anyone on any given day."

Club captain Lionel Nallet, who is set to partner Argentine Santiago Dellape in the second row, confirmed that optimism remained high despite the size of the challenge ahead. "The contract is not yet completed - we are still engaged in the competition and we must be ambitious," he said this week.

The Parisians will be without prop Clement Baiocco, flanker Simon Raiwalui and centre Sefulu Gauguau, while Brent Ward and Greg Goosen were overlooked for their squad. Instead, England's Dan Scarborough looks set to start at 15, with fly-half Jonathan Wisniewski partnering either Jerome Fillol or Nic Berry.

Sébastien Chabal will start at number eight with Henry Chavancy and Andrea Masi in the centres and Julien Saubade and Sireli Bobo on the wings.

Racing have taken their full allocation of 1,400 tickets for the match but are unhappy that the game is being played on a Friday night, making it an arduous journey for supporters and forcing them to take time off work. They suggested the proximity of Castres and Stade Toulousain would have made that match a far more suitable one to be played on Friday night, with Racing and Clermont then playing on Saturday.

Castres co-coach Laurent Labit believes his squad is ready and prepared for their weekend quarter-final at Stade Toulousain, despite it being a match beyond their pre-season goals.

"We will commit ourselves fully," he promised. "We deserve this place as a reward for everything we have done during the season. More importantly, we will do everything not to have any regrets at the end of the match," he added.

Castres have had a fortnight's break to prepare for this match - unlike Stade Toulousain - but Labit was unsure whether that was an advantage or disadvantage. "It is the eternal question," he mused in L'Equipe.

"We do not have the manpower of Stade Toulousain, nor the bench, so I think the rest will have done us good. We have prepared accordingly and we will be at 110%," he said.

"Despite this we know it take the perfect match on our behalf and a little fatigue from Toulouse for us to continue the adventure," said Labit.

Toulouse will undoubtedly start as favourites - owing to their quality of squad and their home advantage - but Labit said the result of their last-day encounter (when Toulouse won 25-17) would have little bearing on Saturday's match.

"We went to Toulouse with the idea of taking a bonus to play the quarter-final at home, and in the end we lost without the bonus. But here the challenge will be quite different - it is all or nothing," he said.

Castres go into the match having lost their last three games - and four of their previous five - but Labit said observers shouldn't read too much into those results. "We were already qualified, so we did not have much to lose," he argued.

That may be so - in that they had qualified for the play-offs - but those three defeats did cost them in reality. Instead of contesting a home quarter-final against Racing-Métro they are now forced to travel to Stade Toulousain - an entirely different proposition. The one thing in their favour, however, is Stade's stated preference for Heineken glory this season above domestic silverware, with Guy Noves set to shuffle his starting XV at the weekend to rest some players for the Heineken final.

Castres have injury concerns over props Luc Ducalcon, Carl Hoeft and Daniel Saayman, while centre Yoan Audrin is also uncertain.

Stade also have injury concerns,  over David Skrela (groin) and Cédric Heymans (shoulder) - who both picked up knocks against Leinster - with Noves set to start with Jean-Baptiste Elissalde at fly-half and recent signing Vilimoni Delasau on the wing.

Noves has made no secret of the fact he would prefer a fourth Heineken triumph over domestic success if given a straight choice, although with the depth of talent at his disposal the double remains a possibility.

Prop Census Johnstone (knee), lock Jean Bouilhou (nose) and number eight Shaun Sowerby (fatigue) are all set to miss out on Saturday afternoon, but the quality of their replacements underlines Stade's current strength with Jean-Baptiste Poux, Grégory Lamboley, and Louis Picamoles all likely to start.

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