Toulouse (AFP)
The clash at the top of the Top 14 between the leader, Stade Toulouse, and its runner-up La Rochelle will have a little less flavor without the majority of French internationals, Sunday at the end of a 15th day that Montpellier and Racing 92 will open on Friday. , two teams in difficulty to varying degrees.
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La Rochelle - Toulouse, first place at stake
The poster is enticing on paper between two of the best attacks in the championship, currently in full swing.
But several executives, selected in the France team for the Six Nations Tournament, will be missed on both sides.
Toulousains François Cros and Selevasio Tolofua, however, were released by the management of the Blues and are available.
But the 2019 French champion will also have to deal with the injuries of Romain Ntamack and Thomas Ramos.
So, as he is used to in times of doubloons, the Australian Zack Holmes will help out in their absence at the opening against his former club, of which he keeps "good memories".
"It is always difficult to play in La Rochelle", he warns knowingly.
"I thought they would have a little more trouble without an audience, but that's not the case. It will be nice to find the Marcel-Deflandre stadium."
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Racing on the revival
It is a duel of sufferers which will launch Friday this 15th day, between a Racing 92 beaten twice in a row at home (by Toulon and Bordeaux-Bègles) and a MHR at the bottom of the hole after six consecutive losses in the league.
"We are going to a team that has even more pressure than us," summed up this week in a press conference the second line Ile Boris Palu.
"We prefer to be in our place than in theirs right now."
"There is no danger in the abode, but we must remain vigilant," insisted his defense coach Dimitri Szarzewski, without wanting to "fall into sinistrosis".
There too, many internationals will be lacking on both sides.
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Clermont - UBB, as we meet again
Their draw (16-16) two weeks ago at Chaban-Delmas, in a late match of the 4th day, had left a bitter taste in the Girondins.
Separated by a single point in the standings (but with one match less for the UBB), the two top 6 candidates find themselves this time in Auvergne where the Clermontois, after an unusual series of three defeats in their den in all competitions. , corrected the shooting by crushing Castres (59-19) last weekend.
Bordeaux-Bègles also remains on a convincing victory on the synthetic turf of Racing (33-32), but the men of Christophe Urios will be deprived of their master to play Matthieu Jalibert, in training in Nice with the XV of France.
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The other matches
In ambush behind the leading duo, Toulon has the opportunity to get closer in case of success in Brive.
The Corréziens, in a good dynamic, should not however feed any complexes now that their maintenance seems to be on the right track.
Lyon and Stade Français are facing a similar situation: they have to win at home, against Pau and Castres respectively, in order not to let the train of the final phase slip away.
Finally, Agen will not beat, at least not immediately, the sad record of 15 consecutive Top 14 defeats held by Perpignan since his Stations of the Cross in the 2018/19 season.
His bottom-of-the-table game against Bayonne has been postponed due to positive Covid-19 cases within his workforce.
This postponement does not help the business of Rowing, which already had two games late and needed reassurance after sinking in La Rochelle (40-3) last week.
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