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Top 14 Lights, camera...

August 22 2008

With all the Top 14 clubs having completed their scheduled pre-season friendlies and Tuesday's season kick-off looming large on the horizon, we thought it was just the time to have a closer look at who's hot and who's not in France.

Hot:

Montauban: After wins against Dax and Bourgoin, Montauban hit the road and fought their way to a draw with big spenders Brive. The green guard are ready to prove that their Heineken Cup qualification was no fluke.

Toulouse: Despite a relatively short preparation period, the defending champions are already looking ominous. After warming up against their modest neighbours Colomiers, the 'big red machine' rolled into Toulon to show the newcomers who was boss.

Stade Français: The club from the capital chose to play only one friendly, but they didn't pick a lightweight opponent. A 29-16 win away to Perpignan will fill the Parisians with confidence and send a message out to the rest of France: beware the men in pink!

Bayonne: The Basques stuck their necks out by lining up fixtures against English big guns Saracens and Gloucester. Two wins later and Les Bayonnais will harbour serious ambitions for the coming season.

Biarritz: BO needed a few good results to set the trend after two very disappointing years. An easy win against Pau was followed by success against Premiership runners-up Leicester. All systems seem to be go on the Atlantic coast.

Clermont: Losing finalists extraordinaires Clermont fled the memories of that fateful day at the Stade de France to seek refuge in the USA, where they cruised past the American national team after a rigorous training camp. Back in France, they hosted and beat Northampton. After two consecutive finals lost, les jaunards have the form to make it third time lucky.

Warming up:

Montpellier: After a false start which saw the Heraultais lose to newly promoted Mont-de-Marsan, Montpellier bounced back with a resounding 42-21 win over Sale and more success against Italian club Viadana. A slow start, but a promising one.

Castres: The surprise package of last season, Castres have a hard act to follow. A narrow defeat to Glasgow was balanced out by a visit to Aimé Giral and victory against Perpignan. On a roll, les Castrais then easily disposed of Calvisano. They are already living up to their reputation of outsiders.

Mont-de-Marsan: Already written of by all and sundry the Top 14 newcomers are, so far, undefeated. A surprise win over Montpellier was followed up by success over Italian also-rans Padova. With nothing to lose and already raising eyebrows, Mont-de-Marsan have not said their last word.

Someone close the door, it's getting chilly:

Perpignan: No doubt about it, the Catalans are the biggest disappointments of the pre-season. They started off well enough, with a draw against Sale but then lost two at home to French rivals Castres and Stade Français. When does Dan Carter arrive? Not soon enough by the looks of it.

Bourgoin: Last season's woes seem to have carried over into this one for les Berjalliens. A painful 3-3 draw with Grenoble was compounded by defeat to Montauban. In desperate need of a result they struggled past Bourg-en-Bresse (no, don't worry you shouldn't have heard of them). It could be a long winter in Bourgoin.

Dax: Four matches, four loses, only 26 to go. Oh my, Dax would not have expected to win against Wasps or Montpellier, but going down to Union Bordeaux-Bègles and Tarbes should have alarm bells ringing throughout les Landes. Prepare a spot in the ProD2.

Toulon: It's tough to judge the form of a new-look Toulon side that has more new faces than your first day of Primary school. After smashing local minnows Carqueiranne-Hyères they lost to two of Europe's biggest clubs - Toulouse and Saracens. The truth shall be revealed on Tuesday when Clermont come to town.

Brive: Brive have as many new recruits as Toulon, so they can be forgiven for not looking the finished article just yet. A win against Union Bordeaux-Bègles after being behind for almost the entire match did little to inspire confidence. Ditto for the home draw with Montauban. Time's running out to learn the names of all those new friends.