Paris (AFP)

Beaten from the first day, Toulon will try to bounce back in its stadium against Lyon, another bad student of the return, Sunday at the end of the second day, also marked by the first match of the French Stadium for six months.

Fourth in the standings before the end of the 2019-2020 season in March, the RCT intended to honor its status as a solid contender for the finals.

But in La Rochelle, last weekend, the Toulon hopes were showered by a much more playful and better organized team (29-15).

"We miss (...) We got into it all alone by missing the start. It's a shame because we were rather clean during the friendly matches and there we lack discernment", had lamented the coach Patrice Collazo who is awaiting a reaction for the reunion of his team with his spectators, around 5,000 expected at the Felix-Mayol stadium.

It is important for the Toulonnais to avoid a new setback, which could be difficult for confidence six days from the reception of the Scarlets, during the quarter-finals of the European Challenge.

But the RCT is not really in full possession of its means, especially at the opening.

Anthony Belleau ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee against Stade Rochelais, and Louis Carbonel suffered a shock to the head which did not allow him to play on Sunday.

It is the international scrum-half Baptiste Serin who will help out at the opener position.

Collazo also had to review his second row, since the South African world champion Eben Etzebeth was hit in the ribs and the French international, Romain Taofifénua, suffered from a shoulder.

The situation is not easy for the RCT but its opponent from the LOU also left feathers in its first battle, lost at home against Racing 92 (27-23).

- Bastareaud returns to the Mayol stadium -

Several packages are to be noted on the side of the Rhone club, whose preparation was very disturbed by several cases of infection with the new coronavirus: the right pillar Francisco Gomez-Kodela, the third line Patrick Sobela, the Charlie Ngatai center (concussions), the Pierre-Louis Barassi center (shoulder) and the third row wing Dylan Cretin (hamstrings).

The Lyon Olympic University, on the other hand, recovers the scrum half Jean-Marc Doussain, but not its captain, also scrum half, Baptiste Couilloud, still too close to appear on the scoresheet.

He will also be able to count, in N.8, on Mathieu Bastareaud, a bit like his home at Stade Mayol, having spent eight seasons at RCT (2011-2019).

The French Stadium will present itself to Castres in lack of benchmarks.

The Parisian club, last in the standings during the shutdown of last season, has not played for six months, not even a friendly match!

The consequence of both confinement and then a wave of Covid-19 contamination within its workforce, which deprived it of preparatory meetings.

"Faced with a team that challenges everything, we expect a big entry debate," said scrum half Arthur Coville.

The meeting will seal the return to competition on a French bench of Argentinian coach Gonzalo Quesada, architect of the last Top 14 coronation of the Parisian club in 2015.

For Castres, which has an almost complete workforce, it will be a question of confirming, with the manner, the victory difficultly obtained in Agen (26-22) last weekend, and thus to better prepare the trip to Leicester, the 20 September, in the European Challenge.

© 2020 AFP