The big match this weekend is at magnificent Stade de France when Stade Français host neighbours Racing-Métro who are determined to surpass Stade Français as Paris's dominant club.
It is not the only top match as Toulouse and Toulon meet in Toulouse and Agen, who have been doing surprisingly well this season, receive Bayonne who played their Basque derby on Tuesday, which may have taken something out of their legs.
Clermont-Castres looks close. In fact all of the matches this weekend are touch-and-go affairs. But would it not be good if flair and good manners prevailed.
Fixtures for Round 12
Friday, 2 December 2011
20.45: Bordeaux vs Brive at Stade André Moga
Saturday, 3 December 2011
14.05: Toulouse vs Toulon at Stadium De Toulouse
14.05: Clermont vs Castres at Parc Des Sports Marcel Michelin
16.15: Stade Français vs Racing Métro at Stade De France (Saint-Denis)
Sunday, 4 December 2011
15.00: Lyon vs Perpignan at Matmut Stadium
15.00: Agen vs Bayonne at Stade Armandie
17.05: Biarritz vs Montpellier at Parc Des Sports D'Aguilera
Log after Round 11
There were two catch-up matches during the week which have effected the log. Biarritz beat Bayonne in the Basque Derby and come off the bottom after Lyon lost to Montpellier.
The team suffering a down]=[ward trend at the moment is Perpignan who have dropped three places.
1 Toulouse 38
2 Clermont 36
3 Castres 33
4 Toulon 30
5 Racing Métro 30
6 Agen 28
7 Stade Français 26
8 Montpellier 22
9 Brive 21
10 Bayonne 20
11 Perpignan 19
12 Bordeaux 17
13 Biarritz 14
14 Lyon 13
Predictions: Victories for Brive, Toulouse, Clermont, Stade Français, Perpignan, Bayonne, Montpellier.
Teams
As team information becomes available we shall publish it.
Racing are still without injured François Steyn, Fabrice Estebanez, Guillaume Boussès and Albert VuliVuli.
Bordeaux-Bègles: 15 Bruce Reihana, 14 Rafael Carballo, 13 Julien Rey, 12 Felix Le Bourhis, 11 Blair Connor, 10 Gerard Fraser, 9 Heini Adams, 8 Matthew Clarkin, 7 Daniel Leo'o, 6 Justin Purll, 5 Adam Jaulhac, 4 Cameron Treloar, 3 Silviu Florea, 2 Wayne Avei, 1 Hikairo Forbes
Replacements: 16 Fabien Rofes, 17 Laurent Delboulbes, 18 Hugh Chalmers, 19 Leroy Houston, 20 Julien Seron, 21 Camille Lopez, 22 Vungakoto Lilo, 23 Albert Toetu
Brive: 15 Scott Spedding, 14 Jacques Boussuge, 13 Arnaud Mignardi, 12 Jamie Noon, 11 Ronald Cooke, 10 Riaan Swanepoel, 9 Mathieu Belie, 8 Antonie Claassen, 7 Simon Azoulai, 6 Petrus Hauman, 5 Arnaud Méla, 4 Thibault Dubarry, 3 Patrick Barnard, 2 Iuri Natriashvili, 1 Pablo Henn
Replacements: 16 Louis Acosta, 17 Vasil Kakovin, 18 Olivier Caisso, 19 Julien Ledevedec, 20 Alexandre Bias, 21 Jean Baptiste Pejoine, 22 Guillaume Namy, 23 Alexandre Barozzi
Racing-Métro squad: Antoine Battut, Eddy Ben Arous, Thomas Bianchin, Julien Brugnaut, Sébastien Chabal, Johannes Coetzee, Karim Ghezal, Bernard le Roux, Jonny Leo'o, Lionel Nallet, Benjamin Noirot, Juan Pablo Orlandi, Jone Qovu, Mikaele Tu'ugahala, Rémi Vaquin, Sireli Bobo, Henri Chavancy, Sébastien Descons, Nicolas Durand, Gaëtan Germain, Juan Martín Hernández, Joshua Matavesi, Julien Saubade, Virimi Vakatawa, Jonathan Wisniewski.
Toulon squad: Steffon Armitage, Sébastien Bruno, Kristian Chesney, Joe El Abd, Laurent Emmanuelli, Romain Frou, Jean-Philippe Genevois, Pierrick Gunther, Carl Hayman, Davit Kubriashvili, Christophe Samson, Dean Schofield, Leonardo Senatore, Jone Tawake, Mathieu Bastareaud, Matt Giteau, Benjamin Lapeyre, Christian Loamanu, Gabriele Lovobalavu, Laurent Magnaval, Alexis Palisson, David Smith, Sébastien Tillous Borde, Jonny Wilkinson (Cap).
Match Officials
Bordeaux vs Brive at Stade André Moga
Referee: Jean-Luc Rebollal
Assistant referees: Vincent Blasco Baque, Christophe Graviou
Television match official: Bernard Dal Maso
Toulouse vs Toulon at stadium De Toulouse
Referee: Pascal Gauzere
Assistant referees: Patrick Pechambert, Didier Dussaut
Television match official: Philippe Bonhoure
Clermont vs Castres at Parc Des Sports Marcel Michelin
Referee: Laurent Cardona
Assistant referees: Christophe Labaune, Sébastien Hebert
Television match official: Eric Gonthier
Stade Français vs Racing Métro at Stade De France (Saint-Denis)
Referee: Mathieu Raynal
Assistant referees: Stéphane Pomarède, Thomas Dejean
Television match official: Vincent Azoulay
Lyon vs Perpignan at Matmut Stadium
Referee: Christophe Berdos
Assistant referees: Alain Blondel, Dominique Parrini
Television match official: Gérard Borreani
Agen vs Bayonne at Stade Armandie
Referee: Frank Maciello
Assistant referees: Stéphane Boyer, Régis Gabard
Television match official: Eric Gauzins
Biarritz vs Montpellier at Parc Des Sports D'Aguilera
Referee: Romain Poite
Assistant referees: Laurent Millotte, Pascal Ubeda
Television match official: Bruno Bessot
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