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Week 23 of the Top 14 season sees matches being played on Saturday and Sunday. It is another round promising to deliver further twists and turns as both places in the play-off’s remain wide open as does the relegation situation.
Opening action in week 23 is a south-west classic with Castres hosting Toulouse. The home side have Uruguay’s Rodrigo Capó Ortega starting in the second-row and Argentina’s Benjamín Urdapilleta starting at fly half.
Desperately needing wins are both Paris and Clermont. Top 14 champions from 2015 and 2017 respectively, a win this season is out of the question. Featuring for the home side will be Ramiro Herrera. He has been named as a replacement prop. Patricio Fernández starts for Clermont at fly half.
A strong start to the season saw Bordeaux well placed but the team is now fading away. They host Pau on Saturday in a match that gives the visitors are prime opportunity of edging towards a play-off’s birth. Trinidad & Tobago born Steffon Armitage starts at no 8 for Pau.
Second from bottom is Brive. The club simply must win their home fixture this weekend against Lyon. Given the remaining fixtures a failure to do so will likely mean relegation. Starting on the wing for Lyon away to Brive will be Delon Armitage.
The giant killing performances of late from Oyonnax have the club back from the dead. Yet the team remains bottom of the Top 14 by a single point. They are well positioned to topple the struggling Agen on Saturday. For the match Agen have named Argentine hooker Facundo Bosch at flanker. The USA eligible Dave Ryan starts at Tight Head. Involved for Oyonnax will be 2016 Olympian Axel Muller as a replacement.
Sunday’s two matches in Week 23 see Montpellier and Racing 92 at home to La Rochelle and Toulon respectively. Line-up’s for these matches are to be announced on Saturday afternoon.
