E-mail Article Print-Friendly Version Contact Us

TOP 14

News | Fixtures & Results | Standings | History

Elissalde fit for French Final

Friday 27th June 2008

Ready for battle: Jean-Baptiste Elissalde

French international Jean-Baptiste Elissalde will start at fly-half for Toulouse in Saturday's Top 14 Final against Clermont in Paris after making a 'miraculous' recover from a rib injury.

Toulouse announced on Monday that Elissalde would miss the final after leaving the field in Toulouse's semi-final win over Stade Français last Sunday.

Coach Guy Novès however named the scrum-half turned number ten in his starting line-up on Friday meaning that both sides will field unchanged line-ups for the showdown at the Stade de France.

In typical Toulouse style, the squad has been closed to all outside contact since the semi-finals and the news of Elissalde's inclusion come as a real shock to all involved.

"It would be an exaggeration to say that he has recovered totally...but with the situation we find ourselves in and considering the match we've decided to start with him," Novès told the press in Paris.

In the only change to Toulouse's matchday 22 Valentin Courrent joins the bench to cover for Elissalde.

There is no such good news for flanker Yannick Nyanga who will miss the clash with a torn abductor muscle that he suffered in the semi-final victory.

The teams:

Clermont: 15 Benoît Baby, 14 Aurélien Rougerie (c), 13 Gonzalo Canale, 12 Marius Joubert, 11 Napolioni Nalaga, 10 Brock James, 9 Pierre Mignoni, 8 Julien Bonnaire, 7 Elvis Vermeulen, 6 Alexandre Audebert, 5 Jamie Cudmore, 4 Thibault Privat, 3 Davit Zirakashvili, 2 Mario Ledesma, 1 Laurent Emmanuelli

Toulouse: 15 Cédric Heymans, 14 Maxime Médard, 13 Maleli Kunavore, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 11 YvesDonguy, 10 Jean-Baptiste Elissalde, 9 Bryon Kelleher, 8 Shaun Sowerby, 7 Thierry Dusautoir, 6 Jean Bouilhou (c), 5 Fabien Pelous, 4 Patricio Albacete, 3 Daan Human, 2 William Servat, 1 Omar Hasan.