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Top 14, r2 preview - Jonny Wilkinson
back for Toulon for crucial away trip to Biarritz
19 August 2010
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Back in action: Toulon's Jonny
Wilkinson will start against Biarritz
Photo: Michael Paler |
The opening round of the new
Top 14 season provided its fair share of surprises - Toulon
beaten at home by Bayonne, and La Rochelle getting off to a
winning start - but there's no rest for players as Round 2
fires into action again on Friday night.
Top 14 Fixtures 2010/11
As ever, there are any number
of tasty intrigues to highlight, but Toulon's trip to
Biarritz could just be the tie of the round as Philippe
Saint-André's star-studded squad seeks to make up for its
first-day hiccup.
Stade Francais at home to La
Rochelle may lack stardust by comparison, but it crucially
gives the early-season leaders another chance to bag five
points and extend their impressive start to the 2010/11
season.
Top 14 League Table 2010/11
Elsewhere, champions Clermont
Auvergne will be expected to pile on the points away to a
Bourgoin side which folded badly in Paris last weekend,
while Racing-Meltro welcome back Lionel Nallet and Francois
Steyn as they travel to Montpellier seeking to make it two
away wins from two.
Perpignan, who beat Clermont at
home last weekend, travel to a Brive side that will be
desperate not to slip to successive home defeats, while
Bayonne can build on their victory at Toulon with a home win
against SU Agen.
Finally, Castres entertain
Heineken Cup champions Stade Toulousain on Saturday night to
complete Round 2, with Laurents Labit and Travers urging
their charges for an immediate response after going down to
La Rochelle last weekend.
Top 14 Transfers 2010/11 /
Top 14 Club by Club guide for 2010/11
Previous round-ups:
Round 1
Top 14, Round 02 fixtures
(Current league position in brackets)
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Bourgoin (14th) |
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Clermont Auvergne (12th) |
Stade des Alpes,
20/08/10, 18.45 |
The opening match of Round
2 pits together two sides who both lost last weekend,
although champions Clermont were probably less stressed at
going down 21-13 at Perpignan than Bourgoin were at losing
43-12 at Stade Francais. Coach Xavier Péméja openly voiced
his disappointment after that latter result and he is
looking for a positive response from his squad in a match
that has been moved from Bourgoin's usual home ground to the
Stade des Alpes to capitalise financially. Whether they will
also bank their first points of the reason remains to be
seen, especially as Clermont will be bolstered by the
returns of several internationals who were rested for their
Catalan loss. Julien Malzieu and Marius Joubert remain
doubtful after picking up little niggles, but Morgan Parra
should start at scrum-half, while new signing Sione Lauaki
could start at number eight after impressing as a substitute
last weekend.
Last season: Bourgoin 28 Clermont Auvergne 37
Verdict: Clermont Auvergne win
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Brive
(9th) |
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Perpignan
(4th) |
Stade Amédée
Domenech,
20/08/10, 19.00 |
Brive's opening day 18-23
home defeat by Racing-Métro 92 continued their poor starts
of recent seasons, and they will need a quick response
against Perpignan if they're to avoid yet another late
season fight-back to climb the table. Their cause has not
been assisted by a ruptured cruciate ligament for scrum-half
Jean-Baptiste Péjoine, but at least that should mean a
sustained run for former England snapper Shaun Perry. They
will need all of the ex-Bristol man's verve to get in the
faces of the 2009 champions, but memories of last season's
29-9 win - arguably their best result of the season - should
aid their task. Perpignan arrive with their own injury
problems despite overcoming current champions Clermont in
their opening match, As ever with the Catalans it is the
cursed No 10 position which continues to cause them
problems. With four options already sidelined by injury -
including last weekend's starter David Mélé and close-season
re-signing Manny Edmonds - it could be that France U20
international Gilles Bosch now steps up the the plate. If so
then Jacques Brunel will be hoping the youngster can survive
not just his Top 14 baptism, but more importantly for the
club can emerge intact at the end of the game.
Last season: Brive 29 Perpignan 9
Verdict: Brive win
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Montpellier (11th) |
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Racing-Métro 92 (5th) |
Stade
Yves du Manoir 20/08/10, 19.00 |
Montpellier's usually
solid home form is bound to be given an early test with the
visit of Parisian upstarts Racing-Métro on Friday night.
Pierre Berbizier's expensively assembled squad kick-started
their 2010/11 campaign with an impressive away win at Brive
last weekend, and even the continued absence of Juan Martin
Hernández can't dent their rising confidence at present.
Fellow summer signing Benjamin Fall is also ruled out (with
a back injury) but the returns of club captain Lionel Nallet
and reluctant Springbok Francois Steyn should help make up
for that. Jonathan Wisniewski continues at fly-half with
Nicolas Durand hoping to build on an excellent club debut at
scrum-half last weekend. Montpellier include internationals
Francois Trinh-Duc and Fulgence Ouedraogo for Fabien
Galthié's first home game in charge, and the squad showed
enough in last weekend's 30-22 defeat at Biarritz to confirm
the former Stade Francais boss has plenty of raw material to
work with. In the end it was lack of discipline and Dimitri
Yachvili's unerring boot that did for them, and they will
have to beware a similar fate against the ever effective
Racing.
Last season: Montpellier 21 Racing-Métro 19
Verdict: Racing-Métro win
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Biarritz
(3rd) |
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Toulon (8th) |
Parcs des Sports Aguiléra,
20/08/10, 19.00 |
The match of the round sees the big guns
return - for both sides - as Biarritz play host to
big-spending Toulon at the Parcs des Sports Aguiléra on
Friday night. The Basques welcome back talisman Imanol
Harinordoquy after a rib injury forced him to miss out
against Montpellier, while Toulon have recalled jettisoned
England fly-half Jonny Wilkinson after he was rested for
their shock home defeat by Bayonne. Head coach Philippe
Saint-André tried to play down the significance of that
result afterwards, but as one of his pre-season aims was to
ensure an unbeaten record at the Stade Felix Mayol then his
words had a certain emptiness. There is no doubt the defeat
hurt Toulon badly so PSA will be looking for a massive
response for his well remunerated troops. Wilkinson's boot
should help give them a platform and the new wingers Rudi
Wulf and Paul Sackey will also be hoping to see more of the
ball as Toulon try to deliver on their previously stated aim
of a more enterprising game. Scrum-half Pierre Mignoni also
returns from injury to boost the visitors, but they will
still be without a number of influential players - Joe Van
Niekerk, Rory Lamont, Juan Fernandez Lobbe and Felipe
Contepomi - due to a combination of injuries and rest.
"We've got to move up a gear, that's for sure," admitted PSA
this week. Biarritz also have their own injury problems,
most notably following a ruptured Achilles for prop Fabien
Barcella, but bad boy Takudzwa Ngwenya should return after
an internal suspension for breach of club discipline last
week. Coach Jack Isaac is wary of a Toulon backlash -
"We are going to prepare for it with a little bit of fear in
our bellies and perhaps that will help us rise to the
challenge," he said this week - but this could be a
humdinger of an encounter down on the Atlantic coast. Ride
the wave or be dumped - that's the choice facing Toulon.
Last season: Biarritz 23 Toulon 9
Verdict: Biarritz win
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Bayonne
(7th) |
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SU Agen
(13th) |
Stade Jean Dauger,
20/08/10, 19.00 |
Bayonne's 22-26 away win
at Toulon was undoubtedly the shock result of Round 1 and
the Basques now have an ideal opportunity to back that up
with a home game against newly promoted SU Agen. The latter
were thumped 44-24 at Stade Toulousain last weekend, a
result that was only partially softened by two late tries,
and their visit to the Basque coast could be another hard
lesson in the step up of quality between ProD2 and Top 14.
Not that new Bayonne winger Yohan Huget found the gap
difficult to bridge as he opened his club account with a two
tries in the win at Toulon after being signed from - you
guessed it - Agen during the summer to replace Benjamin
Fall. More of the same against his previous employers would
help maintain Bayonne's excellent early momentum, with the
only down side to last weekend's result being that club
manager Christian Gajan has now been summoned to an LNR
disciplinary hearing to explain his pitch-side behaviour.
Agen coaches Christian Lanta and Christophe Deylaud
have re-jigged their line up from the side which went down
44-24 at Stade Toulousain last weekend, and give debuts to
Mosese Moala (former Biarritz prop), Jamie Robinson (former
Toulon centre) and Kevin Swiryn (American winger). They have
also named Conrad Barnard as the starting fly-half in place
of Valentin Courrent.
Last season: SU Agen were in ProD2
Verdict: Bayonne win
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Stade Francais (1st) |
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La Rochelle
(6th) |
Stade Charléty,
20/08/10, 19.00 |
Stade's convincing 43-12
home win against Bourgoin in Round 1 hinted that new head
coach Michael Cheika might just be turning around the fallen
giants' fortunes after a disastrous 2009/10. It is, of
course, far too early to draw meaningful conclusions, but
with La Rochelle their visitors on Friday the Paris club
could emerge from Round 2 with a maximum 10 points from 10.
Cheika's confidence in his troops is reflected by just one
change to their starting XV, with fit-again James Haskell
coming in for Antonie Rabadan. That means another start on
the wing for Haskell's flat-mate Ollie Phillips, with Hugo
Southwell at full-back and Tom Palmer in the second row
completing the British input. Brian Liebenberg is again on
the subs' bench as he continues comeback from injury, while
half-back pairing Julien Dupuy and Lionel Beauxis start at
nine and 10 respectively. New club captain Sergio Parisse
scored in Round 1 to underline his importance to the team
and it's difficult to see the "Maritimers" troubling them at
their temporary new home of Stade Charléty. reserve
scrum-half Noel Oelschig is still unavailable through
suspension for his red card in a pre-season friendly against
Toulon. La Rochelle, who recorded an excellent opening day
win against Castres, have signed former Brive prop Petrisor
Toderasc (30) to strengthen their front row, but he is not
in their weekend squad.
Last season: La Rochelle were in ProD2
Verdict: Stade Francais win
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Castres
(10th) |
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Stade Toulousain (2nd) |
Stade Pierre
Antoine,
21/08/10, 20.45 |
Castres are still smarting
from going down at La Rochelle last weekend, so expect an
immediate response from the men of Laurent Labit and Laurent
Travers. The coaching duo will take heart from the return of
Romain 'Robocop' Teulet after missing last weekend's match
with a calf strain, and his reliable boot is likely to be
key to Saturday's outcome. Stade Toulousain, who dispatched
SU Agen with six tries, are looking to rest fly-half David
Skrela, meaning a possible start for youngster Doussain.
Grégory Lamboley, meanwhile, has agreed a new four-year deal
with Toulouse, meaning the versatile forward - who joined
from Massy in 2000 - will be 33 when his contract runs out.
Last season: Castres 30 Stade Toulousain 10
Verdict: Castres win
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