Minus many top players, France's Top 14 kicks off this weekend.

The French clubs supply many World Cup players, not only for France but also for Georgia, Romania, Samoa, Russia, South Africa, Fiji, USA, Canada, Tonga, Italy and Argentina. They have invented a new term to deal with the efflux - the World Cup joker. That is the introduction into a club for the duration of the World Cup to replace a player during the World Cup. The medical joker is a similar arrangement - introducing a player to cover for injury.

There are two new sides in France's Top 14 this season - Lyon and Bordeaux who have replaced relegated La Rochelle and Bourgoin. The 14 clubs taking part are: Agen, Bayonne, Biarritz, Bordeaux, Brive, Castres, Clermont, Lyon, Montpellier, Stade Français, Perpignan, Racing-Métro, Toulon, Toulouse.

Round 1 Fixtures

Friday, 26 August 2011

Bayonne vs Toulouse  
Brive vs Agen  
Clermont vs Lyon  
Stade Français vs Bordeaux  
Perpignan vs Castres  
Racing-Métro vs Montpellier  

Saturday, 27 August 2011

Toulon vs Biarritz

Teams

Agen: 15 Silvere Tian, 14 Brice Dulin, 13 Manu Ahotaeiloa, 12 Senio junior Palesasa, 11 Jean François Coux, 10 Conrad Barnard, 9 Maxime Machenaud, 8 Ueleni Fono, 7 Marc Giraud, 6 Jean Monribot, 5 Adri Badenhorst, 4 Dewald Senekal, 3 Jonathan Garcia, 2 Jalil Narjissi, 1 Bernard N nomo
Replacements: 16 Julien Janaudy, 17 Laurent Cabarry, 18 Damien Lagrange, 19 Opeti Fonua, 20 Alexis Bales, 21 Valentin Courrent, 22 Benjamin Petre, 23 Beka Sheklashvili

Bayonne: 15 Pépito Elhorga, 14 Sam Gerber, 13 Thibault Lacroix, 12 Lionel Mazars, 11 Joe Pietersen, 10 Benjamin Boyet, 9 Cédric Garcia, 8 Marc Bagetrabarou, 7 Jean Joseph Marmouyet, 6 Guillaume Bernad, 5 Troy Flavell, 4 Abdellatif Boutaty, 3 Renaud Boyoud, 2 David Roumieu, 1 Aretz Iguiniz
Replacements: 16 François Da Ros, 17 Pierre Lafond, 18 Robin Linde, 19 Julien Puricelli, 20 Julien Audy, 21 Clément Otazo, 22 Clément Lagain, 23 Clément Baiocco

Bordeaux: 15 Bruce Reihana, 14 Thierry Brana, 13 Julien Rey, 12 Michel Denetre, 11 Blair Connor, 10 Gerard Fraser, 9 Julien Seron, 8 Matthew Clarkin, 7 Charlie Ternisien, 6 Justin Purll, 5 Adam Jaulhac, 4 Cameron Treloar, 3 Nicolas Decamps, 2 Fabien Rofes, 1 Laurent Delboulbes,
Replacements: 16 Romain Lauga, 17 Richard Davies, 18 Leroy Houston, 19 Hugh Chalmers, 20 Guillaume Laforgue, 21 Camille Lopez, 22 Felix Le Bourhis, 23 Albert Toetu

Brive: 15 Scott Spedding, 14 Clement Marienval, 13 Ronnie Cooke, 12 Arnaud Mignardi, 11 Julien Caminati, 10 Shane Geraghty, 9 Jean Baptiste Pejoine, 8 Antonie Claassen,  7 Simon Azoulai, 6 Alexandre Bias, 5 Retief Uys, 4 Thibault Dubarry,  3 Pablo Cardinali, 2 Virgile Lacombe, 1 Pablo Henn
Replacements: 16 Iuri Natriashvili, 17 Victor Laval, 18 Arnaud Méla, 19 Julien Ledevedec, 20 Petrus Hauman, 21 Mathieu Belie, 22 Jacques Boussuge, 23 Patrick Barnard

Castres: 15 Florian Denos, 14 Pierre Gilles Lakafia, 13 Thomas Sanchou, 2 Romain Cabannes, 11 Marc Andreu, 10 Rémi Tales, 9 Rory Kockott, 8 Matemini Masoe, 7 Yannick Caballero, 6 Steve Malonga, 5 Rodrigo Capo Ortega, 4 Matthias Rolland, 3 Karena Wihongi, 2 Mathieu Bonello, 1 Saimone Taumoepeau
Replacements: 16 Marc Antoine Rallier, 17 Michael Coetzee, 18 Scott Murray, 19 Jan Bornman, 20 Romain Teulet, 21 Vincent Iñigo, 22 Pierre Bernard, 23 Rossouw Kruger

Clermont: 15 Anthony Floch, 14 Robert Russell, 13 Regan King, 12 Wesley Fofana, 11 Julien Malzieu, 10 Brock James, 9 Kevin Senio, 8 Elvis Vermeulen, 7 Alexandre Lapandry 6 Gerhard Vosloo, 5 Jason White, 4 Loïc Jacquet, 3 Daniel Kotze, 2 Benjamin Kayser, 1 Lionel Faure
Replacements: 16 Benoît Cabello, 17 Vincent Debaty, 18 Baptiste Hezard, 19 Alexandre Audebert,  20 Ludovic Radosavljevic, 21 Riaan Swanepoel, 22 Jean Marcellin Buttin, 23 Clement Ric

Lyon: 15 Mark van Gisbergen, 14 James Bailey, 13 Vinaya Wakanivuga, 12 Nicolas Raffault, 11 Mosese Ratuvou, 10 Régis Lespinas, 9 Enrico Januarie, 8 Alexandru Manta, 7 Nicolas Bontinck, 6 Eugene N zi, 5 Pierre Vigouroux, 4 Coenie Basson, 3 Antoine Guillamon, 2 Vincent Colliat, 1 Xavier Fiard
Replacements: 16 Sébastien Miro, 17 Anthony Roux, 18 Jean Sousa, 19 Gerald Gambetta, 20 Romain Veniat, 21 Waisale Sukanaveita, 22 Thibauld Suchier, 23 Guram Kavtidze

Montpellier: 15 Benjamin Thiery, 14 Jean Baptiste Peyras Loustalet, 13 Yoan Audrin, 12 Thomas Combezou, 11 Yohann Artru, 10 Raphael Lagarde, 9 Benoît Paillaugue, 8 Alex Tulou, 7 Rémy Martin, 6 Vassili Bost, 5 Alikisio Fakate, 4 Thibaut Privat, 3 George Jgenti, 2 Joan Caudullo, 1 Sébastien Chobet
Replacements: 16 Michael Ladhuie, 17 Na'ama Leleimalefaga, 18 Drikus Hancke, 19 Lionelle van Staden, 20 Eric Escande, 21 Mickaël De Marco, 22 Pierre Berard, 23 Erasmus Jansen van Vuuren

Perpignan: 15 Jerome Porical, 14 Farid Sid, 13 Rudolf Coetzee, 12 Gavin Hume, 11 Adrien Planté, 10 Nicolas Laharrague, 9 Florian Cazenave, 8 Damien Chouly, 7 Bertrand Guiry, 6 Gregory Le Corvec, 5 Robins Tchale Watchou, 4 Olivier Olibeau, 3 Benoît Bourrust, 2 Charles Geli, 1 Perry Freshwater
Replacements: 16 Maxime Delonca, 17 Jérôme Schuster, 18 Rimas Alvarez Kairelis, 19 Romain Taofifenua, 20 David Mélé, 21 Romain Bézian, 22 Joffrey Michel, 23 Danie Thiart

Racing-Métro: 15 Benjamin Fall, 14 Sireli Bobo, 13 Henry Chavancy, 12 Guillaume Boussès, 11 Virimi Vakatawa, 10 Jonathan Wisniewski, 9 Nicolas Durand, 8 Sébastien Chabal, 7 Jone Qovu Nailiko, 6 John Leo'o , 5 François Van der Merwe, 4 Santiago Dellapè, 3 Scott Zimmermann, 2 Benjamin Noirot, 1 Julien Brugnaut
Replacements: 16 Gregory Arganèse, 17 Eddy Ben arous, 18 Karim Ghezal, 19 Bernard Le roux, 20 Mathieu Lorée, 21 Gaëtan Germain, 22 Antoine Battut, 23 Salemane Sa,

Stade Français: 15 Alexander Rokobaro, 14 Julien Arias, 13 Morgan Turinui, 12 Jean-Baptiste Gobelet, 11 Francis Fainifo, 10 Jérôme Fillol, 9 Julien Dupuy, 8 David Lyons, 7 Pierre Rabadan, 6 Arthur Chollon, 5 Alexandre Flanquart, 4 Anton van Zyl, 3 Stanley Wright, 2 Aled De Malmanche,  Olivier Milloud
Replacements: 16 Rémi Bonfils, 17 David Attoub, 18 Gerhard Mostert, 19 Leiataua Tomiki, 20 Byron Kelleher, 21 Djibril Camara, 22 Jules Plisson, 23 Rabah Slimani

Toulouse: 15 Clément Poitrenaud, 14 Timoci Matanavou, 13 Yann David, 12 Florian Fritz, 11 Yves Donguy, 10 Nicolas Bézy, 9 Jean-Marc Doussain, 8 Gillian Galan, 7 Sylvain Nicolas, 6 Yannick Nyanga, 5 Yoann Maestri, 4 Russlan Boukerou, 3 Yohan Montes, 2 Alberto Vernet Basualdo, 1 Carl Hoeft,
Replacements: 16 Jeremy Falip, 17 Yassin Boutemane, 18 Grégory Lamboley, 19 Richard Sowerby, 20 Luke McAlister, 21 Yannick Jauzion, 22 Rupeni Caucaunibuca, 23 Johnson Falefa

Match officials

Bayonne vs Toulouse at Stade Jean Dauger
Referee: Christophe Berdos
Assistant referees: J Matheu, Christophe Malterre
Television match official: Jean-Pierre Pellaprat

Perpignan vs Castres at Stade Aimé Giral
Referee: Claude Monroig
Assistant referees: Sébastien Cloute, Patrick Beuriot
Television match official: V Azoulay

Stade Français vs Bordeaux  at Stade Charlety (Paris)
Referee: Sébastien Minery
Assistant referees: Salem Attalah, Dominique Parrini
Television match official: Daniel Irazoqui

 Brive vs Agen at Stade Amédée Domenech
Referee: Céderic Marchat
Assistant referees: Mathieu Raynal, Pascal Ubeda
Television match official: Philippe Bonhoure

Clermont vs Lyon  at Parc Des Sports Marcel Michelin
Referee: Stephan Pomarède
Assistant referees: Christophe Labaune, Benoît Escoubet
Television match official: Eric Gauzins

Racing Métro vs Montpellier at Stade Yves Du Manoir (Colombes)
Referee: Pascal Gauzere
Assistant referees: Cyril Lafon, Philippe Gorbenko
Television match official: Jean-Claude Levrier

Toulon vs Biarritz at Stade Mayol
Referee: Patrick Pechambert
Assistant referees: Laurent Cardona, Laurent Sclafer
Television match official: Bernard Dal Maso