Top 14 Barrage Preview

Castres vs Montpellier

The Top 14 barrage will kick-off shortly with the first of two knock-out matches being taking place in France. Today´s match sees Castres play host to Montpellier in what is a rematch of last seasons barrage encounter in which Martín Bustos Moyano booted Montpellier into a first ever Top 14 Semi Final. Ther one time capped Argentine winger will start the match on the left wing, retaining the goalkicking duties and will be joined by four other Pumas with Juan Figallo starting at loosehead prop and Santiago Fernández at inside centre, just like they did 12 months ago. The trio will be joined by another Pumas forward and a back in the starting XV with Lucas González Amorosino playing fullback and Agustín Creevy playing hooker. The form of all five players has been impressive this season and all will feature for Los Pumas in The Rugby Championship. A sixth Argentine player, Maximilano Bustos is also on the Montpellier card, as a replacement. He is uncapped despite having been a part of the Argentine squad at New Zealand 2011. The opposition, Castres, do not have any Pumas but do have a South American with Uruguay´s Rodrigo Capó Ortega on the bench.

Toulon vs Racing Métro

The second barrage play-off match will be played on Saturday with Toulon playing host to Racing Métro. Both sides will have Pumas players with Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe starting at 8 for Toulon and to other Juan´s starting for the Paris based opposition. Pulling the strings at flyhalf will be Juan Martín Hernández who has been impvoing this season after a slow start and wil be joined by a player who 21 months ago was an unknown, Juan Imhoff. The young speedster will play on the left wing while former Pumas backrower, Alvaro Galindo has been named on the bench.