from Simon Lewis in Paris
SO it's an hour before kick off at Stade Yves Du Manoir in Paris, and Jonny Wilkinson is going through his kicking practice ahead of Toulon's Top 14 clash with home side Racing Metro 92.
No Toulon team sheet as yet, but England fly-half Wilkinson has apparently got the nod over Felipe Contepomi in the visitors' number 10 shirt, a week ahead of their Heineken Cup clash with Munster.
Racing are taking the French championship a lot more seriously than Heineken Cup this season, and have named a suitably strong line-up in this clash of third versus ninth.
The Parisians are injury-free with the only notable absence in their starting XV at fly-half, where Juan-Pablo Hernandez takes a seat on the bench having just returned from his native Argentina following the death of his father.
And here comes the Toulon team sheet, with Wilkinson indeed starting and partnering scrum-half Matt Henjak, who starts ahead of French number nine Pierre Mignoni. Team captain Joe Van Niekerk has recovered from an injury scare but is on the bench, Juan Fernandez Lobbe starting at number eight in a back row also featuring George Smith and Joseph El Abd.
Former All Blacks prop Carl Hayman is nowhere to be seen in the Toulon front row or the bench - a neck injury is the issue here, which may be good news for Munster - so the visitors will pack down with Emmanuelli Laurent and Georgia's Davit Kubriashvili either side of hooker Sebastien Bruno.
Racing, who face European pool rivals Clermont Auvergne next weekend before hosting Leinster in the final round of pool games the week after, are captained by Lionel Nallet in the second row.
The beast that is Sebastien Chabal is at number eight and there's a half-back pairing of Jerome Fillol and Jonathan Wiesnieweski, who faces a citing hearing on January 19 for a dangerous tackle allegedly committed during last week's win over Montpellier.
Not a very big crowd here at all in the western Parisian suburb of Colombes, but there was a big game at Stade de France yesterday, when Stade Francais put Toulouse to the sword. That, and it's a late kick-off live on French television on a Sunday night.
Or maybe they heard the outrageously pornographic American rap song being played on the stadium public address a short while ago and thought better of entering this seeming den of iniquity.
The Fields of Athenry it ain't, but hopefully the rugby will be a little more palatable.
There's lots to look out for and they'll be a lot to digest afterwards as these two French teams head onto a European week with huge implications for Leinster and Munster.
Source: http://feeds.examiner.ie/~r/iesportsblog/~3/rUlgh9lHEYM/post.aspx
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