Mumps is still playing its part in France's Top 14 fixtures and two matches have been postponed as a result. The matches Lyon vs Montpellier and Biarritz vs Bayonne have been postponed.

In theoir the big match of the day is at Stade de France when Stade Français host Clermont, but the pink Parisians are going to have to improve on recent showings to make a game of it.

Fixtures, Round 10

Friday, 4 November 2011

20.45: Brive vs Racing-Métro

Saturday, 5 November 2011

14.05: Toulouse vs Perpignan
14.15: Toulon vs Agen
14.15: Bordeaux-Bègles vs Castres
16.15: Stade Français vs Clermont

Log after Round 9

Lyon and Bordeaux-Bègles each have a game in hand.

1 Clermont 35
2 Toulouse 32
3 Castres 31
4 Toulon 28
5 Agen 24
6 Racing Métro 21
7 Perpignan 18
8 Brive 18
9 Stade Français 16
10 Bayonne 15
11 Montpellier 14
12 Bordeaux-Bègles 13
13 Lyon 12
14 Biarritz 10

Prediction: Victories for Racing-Métro who are gathering strength while Brive are losing players, Toulouse, Toulon who will not have it easy , Castres and Clermont.

Teams

Brive who have suffered many injuries, have engaged the former Shark threequarter Riaan Swanepoel as a medical joker after he spent time at Clermont Auvergne as a World Cup joker. Swanepoel comes in for Jacques Boussuge who has an injured knee and was uncertain but then chosen to start. Others in the Brive sickbay are Mathieu Belie, Agustin Figuerola, Victor Laval, Guillaume Ribes, Guillaume Namy, Vincent Forgues, Petrus Hauman, Clément Marienval, Yann Fior, Simon Azoulai, Nicolas Jeanjean and Shane Geraghty. But this was not the end of it. Late in the week they lost hooker Virgile Lacombe to an injury to his left calf. Iuri Natriashvili will take his place at hooker with Pablo Henn coming onto the bench.

French internationals Lionel Nallet and Fabrice Estebanez are back for Racing-Métro as is Juan Martin Hernández, who is at flyhalf, but not Springbok François Steyn. Also absent are Benjamin Fall, Sébastien Chabal, Mirco Bergamasco and François van der Merwe.

Toulon have acquired the Argentinian loose forward Leonardo Senatore as a medical joker to cover for Juan Fernandez Lobbe who is out for six months following  the rupture of the ante cruciate ligament in his left knee. Senatore is not on the squad for Saturday.

Agen are without Marc Giraud who has been suspended for 20 days for stamping on a player on the ground.

Jamie Cudmore and Jason White are both doubtful to turn out for Clermont who play Stade Français at Stade de France on Saturday. Thomas Domingo is certainly out as he will undergo an operation on his knee on Friday and then will be out of action for at least six months.

Wallaby scrumhalf Luke Burgess, who was recently married, arrived in Toulouse this week.

Bordeaux-Bègles are without loose forward Hugh Chalmers as well as Julien Turini and Rafaël Carballo. But Hikairo Forbes, Louis-Benoît Madaule, Andrew Ma'ilei, Patrick Toetu and Justin Purll make their return.

Bordeaux-Bègles squad: Wayne Avei, Matthew Clarkin, Laurent Delboulbes, Silviu Florea, Hikairo Forbes, Adam Jaulhac, Daniel Leo, Louis-Benoît Madaule, Justin Purll, Fabien Rofes, Jacobus Roux, Charlie Ternisien, François Tisseau, Patrick Toetu, Cameron Treloar, Heini Adams, Thierry Brana, Blair Connor, Laurent Ferreres, Gerard Fraser, Félix Le Bourhis, Vungakoto Lilo, Camille Lopez, Andrew Ma'ilei, Bruce Reihana, Julien Seron.

Brive: 15 Julien Caminati, 14 Jacques Boussuge, 13 Arnaud Mignardi, 12 Jamie Noon, 11 Ronnie Cooke, 10 Scott Spedding, 9 Mathieu Belie, 8 Julien Ledevedec, 7 Alexandre Bias, 6 Antonie Claassen, 5 Arnaud Méla (captain), 4 Retief Uys, 3 Pablo Cardinali, 2 Iuri Natriashvili , 1 Vasil Kakovin.
Replacements: 16 Davit Kinchagishvili, 17 Pablo Henn, 18 Thibault Dubarry, 19 Olivier Caisso, 20 Tasi Luafutu, 21 Jean-Baptiste Pejoine, 22 Ayite Atayi, 23 Pat Barnard
   
Racing-Métro: 15 Gaëtan Germain, 14 Sireli Bobo, 13 Virimi Vakatawa, 12 Guillaume Boussès, 11 Juan Jose Imhoff 10 Juan Martín Hernández, 9 Mathieu Lorée, 8 Jacques Cronjé (captain), 7 Antoine Battut, 6 Rémi Vaquin, 5 Jone Qovu, 4 Karim Ghezal, 3 Juan Pablo Orlandi, 2 Gregory Arganèse, 1 Andrea Lo Cicero
Replacements: 16 Benjamin Noirot, 17 Eddy Ben Arous, 18 Lionel Nallet, 19 Johnny Leo'o, 20 Nicolas Durand, 21 Jonathan Wisniewski, 22 Fabrice Estebanez, 23 Johan Coetzee

Toulon squad: Steffon Armitage, Sébastien Bruno, Kristian Chesney, Joe El Abd, Romain Frou, Jean-Philippe Genevois, Pierrick Gunther, Carl Hayman, Mickaël Ivaldi, Davit Kubriashvili, Eifion Lewis-Roberts, Christophe Samson, Dean Schofield, Jone Tawake, Mathieu Bastareaud, Fabien Cibray, Julien Dumora, Benjamin Lapeyre,  Gabriele Lovobalavu, Alexis Palisson, Luke Rooney, David Smith, Sébastien Tillous-Borde, Jonny Wilkinson (captain).

Match Officials

Stade Français vs Clermont at Stade Charlety
Referee: George Clancy (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Laurent Cardona, Christophe Malterre
Television match official: Jean-Marie Piraveau

Toulon vs Agen at Stade Mayol
Referee: Neil Paterson (Scotland)
Assistant referees: Cédric Marchat, Laurent Sclafer
Television match official: Bruno Bessot

Brive vs Racing-Métro 92 at Stade Amédée-Domenech
Referee: Greg Garner (England)
Assistant referees: Jean-Luc Rebollal, Dominique Parrini
Television match official: Bernard Dal Maso

Toulouse vs Perpignan at Stade Ernest-Wallon
Referee: JP Doyle (England)
Assistant referees: Jérôme Garces, Patrick Beuriot
Television match official: Gérard Borreani

Bordeaux-Bègles vs Castres at Stade André Moga
Referee: Carlo Damasco (Italy)
Assistant referees: Sébastien Cloute, Christophe Clavere
Television match official: Lauren Valin