Some more big decisions are being made this weekend - who will be in contention for top six and who will be in danger of relegation.

There had been talking of increasing the Top 14 to a Top 16, which would have eliminated relegation but that has been put off for a year and so Brive, Bayonne, Perpignan, Biarritz and Lyon are in jeopardy.

The glamour match of the weekend is at Stade de France on Sunday afternoon when, weather permitting, Stade Français play Toulon. Then for the bottom four there are desperate matches.

Racing will be interesting, just to see if they are getting over their debilitating squabbles.

Fixtures, Round 17

Friday, 17 February 2012

20.45 Perpignan vs Biarritz at Stade Aimé Giral 

Saturday, 18 February

14.15: Bordeaux-Bègles vs Montpellier at Stade André Moga
14.15: Bayonne vs Clermont at Stade Jean Dauger
14.15: Brive vs Castres at Stade Amédée Domenech
14.15: Lyon vs Racing-Métro at Matmut Stadium
14.15: Toulouse vs Agen at Stade Ernest Wallon
16.15: Stade Français vs Toulon at Stade de France (Saint-Denis)

Log after Round 17

Agen, Castres, Lyon and Brive have a game in hand.

1 Toulouse 65
2 Clermont 59
3 Toulon 50
4 Castres 44
5 Montpellier 44
6 Stade Français 40
7 Racing-Métro 37
8 Agen 36
9 Bordeaux-Bègles 36
10 Brive 28
11 Bayonne 27
12 Perpignan 27
13 Biarritz 25
14 Lyon 24

Predictions: Victories for Perpignan, Montpellier, Clermont, Castres, Racing-Métro, Toulouse and Stade Français.

The teams

After a suspension of 1220 days, Olivier Missoup is back for Racing-Métro.

Yohann Huget and Wales scrumhalf Mike Phillips are back for embattled Bayonne.

Perpignan: 15 Joffrey Michel, 14 Farid Sid, 13 David Marty, 12 Rudi Coetzee, 11 Adrien Planté, 10 Gavin Hume, 9 Kevin Boulogne, 8 Henri Tuilagi, 7 Jean-Pierre Perez, 6 Grégory Le Corvec, 5 Robins Tchale Watchou, 4 Olivier Olibeau, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 Marius Tincu, 1 Perry Freshwater
Replacements: 16 Guilhem Guirado, 17 Jérôme Schuster, 18 Romain Taofifenua, 19 Damien Chouly, 20 Florian Cazenave, 21 Maxime Mermoz, 22 Nicolas Laharrague, 23 Danie Theart.

Biarritz: 15 Iain Balshaw, 14 Takudzwa Ngwenya, 13 Dane Haylett-Petty, 12 Damien Traille, 11 Benoît Baby, 10 Damien Traille, 9 Yann Lesgougues, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 7 Talalelei Gray, 6 Wenceslas Lauret, 5 Pelu Taele, 4 Jérôme Thion, 3 Francisco Gomez Kodela, 2 Benoît August, 1 Sylvain Marconnet.
Replacements: 16 Arnaud Heguy, 17 Fabien Barcella, 18 Manuel Carizza, 19 Raphaël Lakafia, 20 Benoît Guyot, 21 Jean-Pascal Barraque, 22 Ilikena Bolakoro, 23 Campbell Johnstone

Bayonne squad: François Da Ros, David Roumieu, Vitolio Manukula, Aretz Iguiniz, Clément Baiocco, Renaud Boyoud, Rob Linde, Troy Flavell, Abdellatif Boutaty, Mark Chisholm, Guillaume Bernad, Julien Puricelli, Marc Baget, Dwayne Haare, Mike Phillips, Cédric Garcia, Boyet, Jacques-Louis Potgieter, Yohann Huget, Sam Gerber, Joe Rokocoko, Thibault Lacroix, Lionel Mazars, Cédric Heymans.

Toulon squad: Steffon Armitage, Bakkies Botha, Sébastien Bruno, Joe El Abd, Laurent Emmanuelli, Pierrick Gunther, Car Hayman– Mickaël Ivaldi, Davit Kubriashvili, Eifion Lewis Roberts, Olivier Missoup, Jean-Charles Orioli, Christophe Samson, Simon Shaw, Joe Van Niekerk (captain), Mathieu Bastareaud, Fabien Cibray, Matt Giteau, Benjamin Lapeyre, Geoffroy Messina, Alexis Palisson, Luke Rooney, David Smith, Sébastien Tillous-Borde, Jonny Wilkinson.

Match Officials

Perpignan vs Biarritz at Stade Aimé Giral
Referee: Romain Poite
Assistant referees: David Rosich, Pascal Ubeda
Television match officials: J Levrier
 
Bordeaux-Bègles vs Montpellier at Stade André Moga
Referee: Christophe Berdos
Assistant referees: Sébastien Minery, Dominique Parrini
Television match officials: Gérard Borreani
 
Bayonne vs Clermont at Stade Jean Dauger
Referee: Laurent Cardona
Assistant referees: Flavien Hourquet, Sébastien Hebert
Television match officials: Hervé Dubes
 
Lyon vs Racing-Métro at Matmut Stadium
Referee: Cédric Marchat
Assistant referees: Salem Attalah, Laurent Sclafer
Television match officials: Laurent Valin
 
Toulouse vs Agen at Stade Ernest Wallon
Referee: Stéphane Pomarède
Assistant referees: Arnaud Blondel, Jérôme Lamarque
Television match officials: Jean-Pierre Pellaprat
 
Stade Français vs Toulon at Stade de France (Saint-Denis)
Referee: Mathieu Raynal
Assistant referees: Patrick Pechambert, Thomas Dejean
Television match officials: Jean-Marie Piraveau

Brive vs Castres at Stade Amédée Domenech
Referee: Jérôme Garces
Assistant referees: Sébastien Cloute, Patrick Beuriot
Television match officials: Vincent Azoulay