Friendlies:
Aug 4th
Bayonne 27 Saracens 17
Aug 5th
Toulon 25 Stade Francais 22
Stade Toulousain 17 Bourgoin 7
Aug 6th
Biarritz 21 La Rochelle 7
Brive 29 Leicester Tigers 17
Perpignan 29 Racing-Métro 30
Clermont 26 Sale Sharks 8
SU Agen 31 Leeds 6
Aug 7th
Castres 34 Colomiers 8
Montpellier 32 Aurillac 19

The 2010/11 Top 14 season starts on Friday with Heineken Cup champions Stade Toulousain kicking off the new campaign with a home match against SU Agen, last season’s ProD2 winners. Five other matches also take place on the same evening – including a re-run of last season’s domestic final between Perpignan and Clermont Auvergne – before the final match takes place on Saturday with newcomers La Rochelle at home to Castres.

Top 14 Fixtures 2010/11

All of Top 14’s clubs have been busy in pre-season friendly mode again during the past week, with injuries, form, last-minute transfers, financial concerns and international call-ups (or omissions) adding the usual colourful backdrop as the new campaign beckons.

A shoulder injury meant Toulon and England fly-half Jonny Wilkinson was unable to play in his club’s final warm-up match – a narrow 25-22 home win against Stade Francais – but the 31-year-old still managed to grab his share of the headlines. Initially it was due to his non-appearance at England’s five-day EPS training session, and then due to comments from the player himself, and club colleague Felipe Contepomi, underlining his complete contentedness on the Cote d’Azur.

Wilkinson’s non appearance at the EPS session was seen as a snub by Toulon, who insisted it fell outside a stipulated IRB window, but team manager Tom Whitford said England did not request the player’s presence, and that he was injured anyway. Wilkinson still hopes to be fit enough to play in Toulon’s season opener at home to Bayonne on Friday, and his form was sufficiently impressive during the club’s previous game when he slotted five first-half penalties as he quickly found his kicking range.

Wilkinson, who was recently voted the best fly-half in France by Midi Olympique, was an onlooker during Toulon’s 25-22 win against Stade Francais on Thursday – a result which saw them complete their pre-season fixtures with a fourth win from four. His replacement Contepomi scored one of Toulon’s three tries, with captain-for-the-night Fabien Cibray and former Stade Francais centre Geoffroy Messina getting the other scores.

On the same evening Stade Toulousain eased to a 17-7 home win against Bourgoin, with Maxime Médard, Yann David and Nicolas Bézy all going over for the hosts. They will now go into Friday’s home clash with SU Agen in confident mood.

Agen, for their part, scored five tries as they beat Leeds 31-6 to follow up last weekend’s impressive 17-12 victory over Brive. Agen have now won all three of their friendlies and are hoping that their squad will be bolstered by the return of stay-away Fijian winger Rupeni Caucaunibuca this week. Even so, their weekend trip to the Stade Ernest Wallon is likely to be a baptism of fire for last season's ProD2 champions.

Brive bounced back from their defeat at Agen with a resounding 29-17 home success against Leicester Tigers on Friday. England outcast Jamie Noon scored one of Brive’s four tries, with the others coming from Scott Spedding, Mathias Atayi and Antoine Claassen.

Brive begin the 2010/11 season with a home match against Racing-Métro 92, who were captained by fit-again Sébastien Chabal in Friday’s excellent 29-30 away win at Perpignan. Dan Scarborough started at full-back for the Parisians, with former Perpignan star Nicolas Durand at scrum-half against the club he left in the summer.

Racing’s Francois Steyn was forced from the field midway through the second half and is now doubtful for the Brive clash. His frustration was then doubled on Sunday after he was surprisingly named in South Africa's squad for the home leg of the ongoing Tri-Nations championship.

Steyn, who has been largely out of favour with the Springboks of late, is now due to have a scan on Tuesday to discover the extent of his injury. The 23-year-old had been recalled to the national squad by head coach Peter de Villiers after South Africa lost their opening three games of the Tri-Nations.

The youngest ever World Cup winner, who last played for South Africa in June against Wales, will be hoping to recover in time to win his 38th cap against New Zealand in Soweto on August 21st. South Africa then play Australia in Pretoria (on August 28th) and in Bloemfontein (on September 4th). De Villiers is due to reduce his initial 29-man squad on Friday, with the match 22 for the All Blacks clash set to be unveiled on August 17th.

Perpignan, meanwhile, tried out 19-year-old Gilles Bosch at fly-half against Racing due to their current injury problems, although they could yet turn to 33-year-old Manny Edmonds for next weekend’s game against Clermont. Their late loss to the Parisians was also a blow to a team which had won all of its home league games during the 2009/10 season.

Bourgoin’s pre-season preparations have been typically topsy-turvy. Last season they had 12 player licences blocked on the eve of their first game due to financial problems, and there was a sense of déjà-vu when the DNACG – the league’s financial watchdog – blocked four more player licences last week. But Bourgoin at least got some respite on Thursday when they successfully appealed against the DNACG’s decision, clearing the way for new signings Silver Tian, Alex Tulou, Ruaan de Preez and Brando Va’aulu to finally make their debuts next weekend.

That positive news was tempered, however, as the Isere club slipped to their third defeat in three on Thursday when they went down 17-7 to Stade Toulousain, following previous reverses against Bayonne (43-24) and Clermont Auvergne (40-20).

They now travel to Paris on Friday to take on a Stade Francais side keen to wipe out the memories of last season’s horrors. Their narrow loss at Toulon on Thursday showed the squad is beginning to gel under new head coach Michael Cheika, although they confirmed this week that they will not be signing young Argentine lock Santiago Guzman, contrary to a previous club announcement earlier in the summer. Cheika is said to be particularly pleased with the halfback partnership of French internationals Julien Dupuy and Lionel Beauxis, with the former especially eager to make an impression after his return from a six-month ban for eye gouging.

Top 14 Transfers 2010/11

Castres, one of the surprise successes of last season, continued their build-up for the new season with a convincing 23-6 win against Montpellier earlier this week. Josefa Tekori and Romain Martial both scored tries as Castres made it two wins from two. They then followed up with a 34-8 victory against ProD2 outfit Colomiers on Saturday as four second-half tries saw them power home. Yoan Audrin, new signing Jannie Bornman and Florian Denos (2) scored the tries, but their joy was tempered by an early knee injury to Georgian prop Anton Peikrishvili (another new arrival), making him doubtful for their opening league game away to  Top 14 newcomers La Rochelle.

Castres, who finished fifth in the league last season, have also confirmed that Catalan Dragons star Jamal Fakir will not now be joining them, as they had hoped.

Bayonne were also victorious during the week, beating English side Saracens 27-17, although their joy was tempered by news that new signing (and former All Black) Troy Flavell is now likely to miss next weekend’s trip to Toulon. South African Sam Gerber – last season’s top try-scorer in Top 14 – grabbed one of Bayonne’s four tries. Dwayne Haare (2) and Thibault Lacroix also got on the scoresheet.

Defending champions Clermont Auvergne warmed up for their mouth-watering away clash against Perpignan with a 26-8 hammering of Sale Sharks on Friday. Summer signing Sione Lauaki (another former All Black) scored one of their three tries, with the others coming from fly-half Brock James and young Fijian winger Kini Murimurivalu.

Clermont were also bolstered by the playing return of Scottish international Jason White for the first time since breaking his leg on January 1st 2010.

Biarritz were also in action on Friday as they beat La Rochelle 21-7 in their only pre-season friendly. England World Cup winner Iain Balshaw started at full-back for the Heineken Cup runners-up, with the Basques running in three tries, including one from American speedster Takudzwa Ngwenya. The match was significant for being the first time that brothers Magnus and Erik Lund had played together professionally. England international Magnus is now starting his second season with the Basques, while Erik joined from Leeds this summer.

The Heineken Cup runners-up are at home to Montpellier in their opening league game, and Fabien Galthié's side completed their own warm-up matches with a 32-19 win against Aurillac on Saturday.

The Hérault club managed four scores, with hooker Mickael Ladhuie, back row Marc Giraud and American winger Seta Tuilevuka adding to a penalty try. Aurillac scored two tries in response.

Finally, the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR) has announced the club budgets for teams in Top 14, with Stade Toulousain not surprisingly leading the way with a figure of €29.53m, up €1.43m from last season.

Stade Francais (€19.28m) and Brive (€14.05m) are the only two teams with decreased budgets for 2010/11, while Top 14 newcomers SU Agen (€9.81m) and La Rochelle (€8.31m) unsurprisingly have the two smallest budgets. The biggest increase, meanwhile, is at Bourgoin, who have upped their budget by €3.95m.

Top 14, Season 2010/11, Round 1:
Stade Toulousain v SU Agen (Stade Ernest Wallon, 13/08/10, 18.45)
Brive v Racing-Métro 92 (Stade Amédée Domenech, 13/08/10, 19.00)
Biarritz v Montpellier (Parc des Sports Aguiléra, 13/08/10, 19.00)
Toulon v Bayonne (Stade Félix Mayol, 13/08/10, 19.00)
Stade Francais v Bourgoin (Stade Jean Bouin, 13/08/10, 19/00)
Perpignan v Clermont Auvergne (Stade Aimé Giral, 13/08/10, 21.00)
La Rochelle v Castres (Stade Marcel Deflandre, 14/08/10, 20.45)

Pre-Season friendlies:

July 23
Bayonne 43 Bourgoin 24

July 24
Aurillac 7 Brive 33
Toulon 30 Lyon OU 18
SU Agen 26 RC Narbonne 5

July 25
La Rochelle 17 Grenoble 17

July 29
Lyon OU 13 Stade Francais 12

July 30
La Rochelle 10 Stade Toulousain 29
SU Agen 17 Brive 12
Bourgoin 20 Clermont Auvergne 40
Toulon 39 Racing-Métro 10
Pau 28 Castres 33
Montpellier 56 Carcassonne 17
Perpignan 32 RC Narbonne 21 

August 4
Bayonne 27 Saracens 17

August 5
Toulon 25 Stade Francais 22
Stade Toulousain 17 Bourgoin 7
SCA Albi 13 Tarbes 3

August 6
Biarritz Olympic 21 La Rochelle 7
Brive 29 Leicester Tigers 17
Perpignan 29 Racing-Métro 30
Lyon OU 25 Oyonnax 0
Clermont Auvergne 26 Sale Sharks 8
SU Agen 31 Leeds 6

August 7
Montpellier 32 Aurillac 19
Castres 34 Colomiers 8
FC Auch Gers 3 Pau 33
SCA Albi 58 v Provale Select XV 7
Dijon 12 St Etienne 32