Stade Francais will expect to make it eight Top 14 wins on the trot when they travel to Brive on Friday evening.

A victory for the Parisian side will consolidate their third place in the league and challenge for a semi-final spot with four games of the regular season to go.

Stade welcome back France fly-half Lionel Beauxis and Argentina full-back Ignacio Corleto (pictured) for the clash with 11th-placed Brive, who have lost four of their last five.

The tie of the weekend sees leaders Clermont host fourth-placed Perpignan, who will be determined to make amends for a 28-22 defeat at Montauban last week that snapped an eight-game winning run.

Perpignan will be without their Samoan powerhouse number eight Henry Tuilagi, who has an adductor muscle injury, while Clermont are missing their France scrum-half Pierre Mignoni, who is out for three weeks with a torn thigh muscle.

Clermont head the table by five points from Toulouse thanks to a tight 16-11 victory at Biarritz last week.

Toulouse face a Montauban side boosted by their win over Perpignan and will be determined to make up for their surprise defeat at Montpellier.

All 18,000 seats are sold out at the Stade Ernest Wallon and a victory for Montauban would give them their third major scalp in the space after their win over Biarritz in late April.

Fifth-placed Castres are staging a late bid for the play-offs with three wins from their last four games and will hope to put pressure on Perpignan with a win at Bayonne.

But they will be without their loose forward Alexandra Bias, who is out for the rest of the season with a foot fracture, while Bayonne welcome back centre Vincent Inigo.

Biarritz's play-off challenge has faltered in the last month with three defeats on the trot and a win at second-from-bottom Dax is vital to their chances of getting their campaign back up and running.

The other games sees bottom club Auch travel to Albi and Montpellier host Bourgoin in a mid-table clash.

Terence O'Rorke / Eurosport