Sunday 10 April 2016 18:22, UK
Matt Giteau will start at fly-half for Toulon in their European Champions Cup quarter-final on Sunday despite not having played for almost four months.
Giteau will dictate play for the reigning champions in their tough trip to fellow Top 14 outfit Racing 92 after recovering from a groin problem, leaving former All Black Tom Taylor to warm the bench.
Giteau has not played since mid-December and underwent surgery in January to fix the problem.
Fellow Wallaby James O'Connor will play on the left wing with Englishman Delon Armitage lining up at full-back due to the absences of South African flyer Bryan Habana and Aussie back Drew Mitchell.
New Zealand legend Ma'a Nonu will play on Giteau's outside shoulder with Maxime Mermoz preferred to fellow France international Mathieu Bastareaud at outside centre.
Toulon have also been boosted by the news that captain Guilhem Guirado is fit to play hooker despite suffering a neck injury in last week's home defeat to Clermont.
Opposite Giteau will be All Black star in Dan Carter, who gets the nod at outside half despite playing at inside centre against Toulon in the league a couple of weeks ago.
South African Johan Goosen switches to the centre in place of the injured Henry Chavancy and New Zealand international Casey Laulala.
Another former All Black, Joe Rokocoko, will start at right wing for Racing, for whom former Kiwi international Chris Masoe will wear the No 8 jersey.
Racing 92: 15 Brice Dulin, 14 Joe Rokocoko, 13 Johan Goosen, 12 Alexandre Dumoulin, 11 Juan Imhoff, 10 Dan Carter, 9 Maxime Machenaud;1 Eddy Ben Arous, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski, 3 Luc Ducalcon, 4 Luke Charteris, 5 Francois van der Merwe, 6 Wenceslas Lauret, 7 Bernard Le Roux, 8 Chris Masoe.
Replacements: 16 Camille Chat, 17 Khatchik Vartanov, 18 Martin Castrogiovanni, 19 Yannick Nyanga, 20 Manuel Carizza, 21 Mike Phillips, 22 Rémi Talès, 23 Marc Andreu
Toulon: 15 Delon Armitage, 14 Josua Tuisova, 13 Maxime Mermoz, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 11 James O'Connor, 10 Matt Giteau, 9 Jonathan Pélissié; 1 Florian Fresia, 2 Guilhem Guirado, 3 Manasa Paulo, 4 Mamuka Gorgodze, 5 Romain Taofifenua, 6 Juan Smith, 7 Charles Ollivlon, 8 Duane Vermeulen.
Replacements: 16 Jean-Charles Orioli, 17 Xavier Chiocci, 18 Levan Chilachava, 19 Steffon Armitage, 20 Mathieu Bastareaud, 21 Tom Taylor, 22 Éric Escande, 23 Thibault Lassale.
Watch Racing 92 v Toulon live on Sky Sports 2 HD on Sunday from 4.15pm. Catch the match for £6.99 on NOW TV. No contract.
