photo credit: Patrick Olombel / Castres Olympique

Top 14 – Week 14 Preview

On Saturday and Sunday Week 14 of the Top 14 season will take place in France. In the latest round of the competition there are to be some important match-ups as teams look to make their way towards play-off’s contention.

In Saturday’s opening fixture Stade Français play host to Perpignan in Paris. In looking to continue their winning ways the home side have named a strong line-up. Nicolás Sánchez starts the match at fly half while Pumas teammate Ramiro Herrera will cover tight head prop from the bench. Perpignan are yet to win a match all season.

In game two Grenoble host last seasons champions, Castres. The out-of-form visitors have named Argentine Benjamín Urdapilleta and Canadian Taylor Paris to start the match. Both are RWC 2019 hopefuls. They will play fly half and right wing against Grenoble this weekend.

Another club needing a win is Pau. The club will have home advantage against Bordeaux on Saturday. Named to start for Pau is Trinidad & Tobago’s English international Steffon Armitage. Involved for the visitors will be Mariano Galarza who recently moved to Bordeaux from Gloucester.

The hot-and-cold Montpellier host Lyon. They will be targeting a bonus point win at home though Lyon are not going to make it easy for them. Starting for Lyon at tight head prop will be Francisco Gómez Kodela. He was among the try scorers in last weekend’s big win.

Starting for Agen against Toulouse will be Facundo Bosch. He made his test debut for Argentina in the 2018 win over South Africa in Mendoza, doing so as the replacement hooker. Despite having played a lot for Agen at flanker He will start in his natural position of flanker on Saturday. Involved from the bench will be Colombia’s Andrés Zafra and the USA eligible Dave Ryan.

Saturday’s final fixture sees Racing 92 at home against Toulon in Paris. Two names expected to be in Argentina’s RWC 2019 roster will start the match. Juan Imhoff will play left wing for the home side while Facundo Isa will play flanker for Toulon.

Week 14 will conclude with one Sunday fixture. It is to be a match-up between two of the leading clubs this season – Clermont and La Rochelle. Line-ups for the game will be released on Saturday afternoon.

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