It is a revamped Stade Toulousain which will travel to the Stade Jean-Dauger to face the Bayonnais with great confidence on Sunday evening (9:05 p.m.). In addition to the eight players retained with the French XV, the reigning French champions will have to do without the injured Richie Arnold and Julien Marchand to avoid any risks.
Getting to Stade Jean-Dauger is never easy. But going there without its French executives makes the task all the more difficult. Cyril Baille and Nepo Laulala, absent for a long time, remain in the infirmary, but they are joined by Richie Arnold. Hit in a shoulder last weekend, the Australian second row from Stade Toulousain will be absent for at least three weeks, the management of his club, leader of the Top 14, announced this Friday.
Arnold suffered an acromioclavicular dislocation, less than 10 minutes after coming into play, during Toulouse's large victory against Toulon (57-5), at the Stadium.
A big absence while Meafou and Flament are in Marcoussis
This injury comes at a bad time for the reigning French and European champions, already deprived in the second row of Thibaud Flament and Emmanuel Meafou, selected for the French team for the November tests. Good news all the same for the Haut-Garonnais, who will be able to count on the young Joshua Brennan (22 years old), called up for the first time at Marcoussis, but released by the Blues staff. He therefore applies for the match in Bayonne, at the end of the 9th day of Top 14.
Another return, that of the promising third row Mathis Castro-Ferreira (20 years old). A real revelation the previous season, with nine tries scored in 15 Top 14 matches, the U20 world champion in 2023, could experience his first minutes of the season this weekend. Ugo Mola and his staff will also be able to rely on their Japanese scrum-half Naoto Saito and winger and Olympic sevens rugby champion Nelson Épée.
Note, however, the loss of Julien Marchand, who suffers from minor discomfort in his calf. The international hooker is still “protected” by his club before potentially joining the French XV for its first match of the fall against Japan (November 9).
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