Nicolas Durand: Back in blood and gold
Perpignan are boosted by the return of scrum-half Nicolas Durand to their line-up as they seek to redress the 9-8 HEC defeat to Treviso.
As well as Durand's return, there is also a return for openside flanker Jean-Pierre Perez at the expense of Damien Chouly, and Argentinian lock Rimas Alvarez Kairelis for young Guillaume Vilaceca.
Perry Freshwater is also included with Sebastian Chobet out injured.
Meanwhile, Northampton coach Jim Mallinder says that his team will have to shut everything else out of their minds when they run out to play the Catalan outfit.
"Although last Saturday was a superb occasion we have put it firmly behind us this week," he said today.
"Having said that, we will have to reproduce the attitude we took into the game with Munster to get a positive result against Perpignan in in their own stadium. It is a hostile place to play and their fans will create an intense atmosphere. But it is up to us to remain calm and stay focused on what we have to do.
"Perpignan haven't been beaten at home this season and we are aware that they are the current Top 14 champions with a quality squad to match. But we took plenty of positives from the match against Munster and are approaching tomorrow's game in a good frame of mind."
Perhaps predictably, there is not a single change, in starting XV or bench, from the side that beat Munster last weekend.
Form: It's Northampton's first-ever trip to the Aime-Giral and so Mallinder is right to exercise caution. But Perpignan are not always as intimidating in Europe as they are in the Top 14 and so the Saints can go with a degree of confidence. It's going to be a cracker!
Perpignan: 15 Jérôme Porical, 14 Farid Sid, 13 David Marty, 12 Maxime Mermoz, 11 Julien Candelon, 10 Nicolas Laharrague, 9 Nicolas Durand, 8 Henry Tuilagi, 7 Jean-Pierre Perez, 6 Gerrie Britz, 5 Robins Tchale Watchou, 4 Rimas Alvarez Kairelis, 3 Nicolas Mas (capt), 2 Guilhem Guirado, 1 Perry Freshwater.
Replacements: 16 Marius Tincu, 17 Jérôme Schuster, 18 Kisi Pulu, 19 Guillaume Vilaceca, 20 Ovidiu Tonita, 21 Steve Meyer, 22 Florian Cazenave, 23 Christophe Manas.
Northampton: 15 Ben Foden, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Jon Clarke, 12 James Downey, 11 Bruce Reihana, 10 Shane Geraghty, 9 Lee Dickson, 8 Roger Wilson, 7 Neil Best, 6 Phil Dowson, 5 Juandre Kruger, 4 Courtney Lawes, 3 Santiago Bonorino, 2 Dylan Hartley (capt), 1 Soane Tongauiha.
Replacements: 16 Brett Sharman, 17 Regardt Dreyer, 18 Brian Mujati, 19 Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe, 20 Mark Easter, 21 Alan Dickens, 22 Steve Myler, 23 Chris Mayor.
Date: Friday, October 15
Venue: Stade Aime-Giral
Kick-off: 21.00 (20.00 BST)
Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistant referees: David Bodily (Wales), Hugh Watkins (Wales)
Television match official: Derek Bevan (Wales)
Comments
Be the first to comment on this story..