It's a big weekend with France playing England in Paris on Sunday. Of the matches for Round 20, the most likely to be closest are desperate Biarritz against Brive and weakened Toulouse against Castres.

Several players, especially from Toulouse and Clermont, are in the French team to play Ireland but other teams also absorb French club players - mainly England, Wales, Italy, Georgia and Romania. Apart from those with international call-ups,  Clermont will be without injured Julien Bardy, Gerhard Vosloo, Sitiveni Sivivatu and Clément Ric - 14 players in all.

Fixtures, Round 20

Friday, 9 March 2012

20.45: Racing Métro vs Bordeaux-Bègles at Stade Yves Du Manoir (Colombes)

Saturday, 10 March 2012

13.50: Toulouse vs Castres at Stade Ernest Wallon 
14.15: Montpellier vs Bayonne at Stade Yves Du Manoir (Montpellier)
14.15: Stade Français vs Lyon at Stade Charlety (Paris) 
14.15: Agen vs Clermont at Stade Armandie
14.15: Biarritz vs Brive at Parc Des Sports D'Aguilera
20.30: Perpignan vs Toulon at Stade Aimé Giral

Log after Round 19

1 Toulouse 69
2 Clermont 65
3 Toulon 56
4 Castres 50
5 Montpellier 48
6 Racing Métro 45
7 Agen 44
8 Stade Français 42
9 Bordeaux-Bègles 37
10 Brive 37
11 Perpignan 32
12 Biarritz 30
13 Bayonne 30
14 Lyon 26

Predictions: Victories for Racing Métro, Castres, Montpellier, Stade Français, Agen and Toulon.

Teams

Toulon are resting Jonny Wilkinson in their away match against Perpignan. Matt Giteau comes in to flyhalf with Gabriele Lovobalavu in at centre. Bakkies Botha is out with strained quadriceps and replaced by Dean Schofield and Luke Rooney replaces Benjamin Lapeyre at fullback.

Montpellier will be without Mamuka Gorgodze who is playing for Georgia in their big derby with Romania.

Racing-Métro: 15 Gaëtan Germain, 14 Sireli Bobo, 13 François Steyn, 12 Fabrice Estebanez, 11 Juan Imhoff, 10 Juan Martín Hernández, 9 Mathieu Lorée, 8 Jacques Cronjé, 7 Bernard Le Roux, 6 John Leo'o, 5 François van der Merwe, 4 Santiago Dellapè, 3 Salemane Sa, 2 Thomas Bianchin, 1 Julien Brugnaut.
Replacements: 16 Benjamin Noirot, 17 Eddy Ben Arous, 18 Karim Ghezal, 19 Jone Qovu, 20 Sébastien Descons, 21 Henry Chavancy, 22 Álvaro Galindo, 23  Juan Pablo Orlandi

Bordeaux-Bègles: 15 Bruce Reihana, 14 , 13 Félix Le Bourhis, 12 Andrew Mailei, 11 Blair Connor, 10 Camille Lopez, 9 Heini Adams, 8 Matthew Clarkin, 7 Hugh Chalmers, 6 Justin Purll, 5 Adam Jaulhac, 4 Daniel Leo, 3 Bees Roux, 2 Wayne Avei, 1 Hikairo Forbes
Replacements: 16 Fabien Rofes, 17 Laurent Delboulbes, 18 Cameron Treloar, 19 Louis Madaule,  20 Julien Seron, 21 Gerard Fraser, 22 Rafael Carballo, 23 Albert Toetu

Toulon squad:  Steffon Armitage, Sébastien Bruno, Levan Chilachava, Joe El Abd, Laurent Emmanuelli, Pierrick Gunther, Carl Hayman, Eifion Lewis-Roberts, Olivier Missoup, Orioli, Christophe Samson, Dean Schofield, Simon Shaw, Joe van Nierkerk, Mathieu Bastareaud, Fabien Cibray, Julien Dumora, Matt Giteau, Gabiriele Lovobalavu, Geoffroy Messina, Alexis Palisson, Luke Rooney, David Smith, Sébastien Tillous-Borde.

Match Officials

Racing Métro vs Bordeaux at Stade Yves Du Manoir (Colombes)
Referee: Sébastien Cloute
Assistant referees: Vincent Blasco, Christophe Clavere
Television match official: Bernard Dal Maso
 
Toulouse vs Castres at Stade Ernest Wallon
Referee: Laurent Cardona
Assistant referees: Alexandre Ruiz, Sébastien Hebert
Television match official: Bruno Bessot
 
Montpellier vs Bayonne at Stade Yves Du Manoir (Montpellier)
Referee: Salem Attalah
Assistant referees: Flavien Hourquet, Christophe Malterre
Television match official: Denis Gillet
 
Stade Français vs Lyon at Stade Charlety (Paris)
Referee: Christophe Berdos
Assistant referees: Akim Hadj Bachir, Dominique Parrini
Television match official: Eric Gonthier
 
Agen vs Clermont at Stade Armandie
Referee: Pascal Gauzere
Assistant referees: Nicolas Datas, Didier Dussaut
Television match official: Gérard Borreani
 
Biarritz vs Brive at Parc Des Sports D'Aguilera
Referee: Cédric Marchat
Assistant referees: Christophe Dutreuilh, Jean-Michel Schutz
Television match official: Jean-Pierre Pellaprat
 
Perpignan vs Toulon at Stade Aimé Giral
Referee: Patrick Pechambert
Assistant referees: Stéphane Boyer, Pierre Gorbenko
Television match official: Eric Gauzins