Toulouse in the wars
April 23 2008
Stade Toulousain have received yet another injury blow ahead of the their Heineken Cup semi-final against London Irish at Twickenham on Saturday.
Half-back Valentin Courrent felt a pain in his thigh in training on Tuesday and will undergo tests on Wednesday to evaluate his chances of being fit for the weekend.
Toulouse are expected to play internationals Byron Kelleher and Jean-Baptiste Elissalde at scrum-half and fly-half respectively with Courrent covering on the bench.
The only other back-line player currently set to be on the bench is Maxime Mermoz and if Courrent cannot make it to Twickenham, coach Novès will have to dig deep into his bag of resources to find a replacement.
French international front row Jean-Baptiste Poux is also unlikely to be fit for the clash with the Exiles as he is suffering from a pulled calf muscle.
Fijian international wing Maleli Kunavore has damaged ligaments in his knee and will be out of action for two weeks.
His countryman and fellow international Finau Maka has only recently returned to training after a similar knee injury and won't be available to wear the number eight jersey for the trip across the channel.
Fly-half Gaffie du Toit is on the mend but is not expected to be back in action until mid-May. Likewise for centre Florien Fritz would could be back next week. Clément Poitrenaud and Vincent Clerc however will not put their boots on again this season.
In more bad news for the team from the south-west of France, this week's training schedule as been revamped to allow players to attend the funeral of French international Thierry Dusautoir's father on Wednesday.
Apart from the family tragedy, Dusautoir was a doubtful starter for Saturday's game having sustained a concussion in Toulouse's loss to Clermont last weekend.
Toulouse might have one of the biggest and best squads in Europe but with so many high profile players sidelined, fans of the triple European champions will have their fingers crossed for an incident free build up to Saturday's showdown.