CLERMONT V RACING 92

Sunday 1pm TV Sky Sports Action

Where the match will be won and lost Clermont were beaten 49-0 last week by Toulon, and lie ninth in the Top 14.

Yet they also registered one of the greatest European wins for a decade with an away victory at double champions Saracens.

When I saw the scoreline – 14-46 – I had to check three different devices to believe it was right. I have always been a vociferous supporter of Les Jaunards.

Unplayable at times, yet selfdefeating at others, those inner demons will screech loudly if Racing 92 and Dan Carter start picking away at their seams with three points here and three points there.

Still, once Sebastien Vahaamahina sorted out his discipline he was brilliant for France in the Six Nations. Rabah Slimani would scrum against the Eiffel Tower.

The fox of all foxes, Morgan Parra, sets the drum beat at No9 and then the backs are let loose like a pack of wild hunting dogs.

But all this is surrounded by that niggling doubt of self-destruction.

As for Racing 92, perhaps this is a chance for Carter just to be part of the main peloton?

Leone Nakarawa, the lighthouse on stilts at No5 or 8, is almost unplayable with his ability to keep the attack and its focus moving. Maxime Machenaud at No9 is a terrier, with the butcher’s dog physique, driving his boys forward. Virimi Vakatawa can go over you but prefers to go around and Henry Chavancy most definitely likes to go through you. And of course, strolling around in amongst the chaos, with a heart rate that barely skips past 60, Carter will watch and wait like a sea snake, ready to hurt you when the guard drops.

Prediction I must go with Clermont, but with no real conviction.