Toulon will eager to get back to winning ways in the Top 14 when they welcome Bayonne on Saturday, and they can pile the misery on to what's been a chaotic season for the visitors.

With the six nations on the horizon there isn’t a huge amount of quality European rugby action for punters this weekend, except for a full round of T14 action, where the French rugby federation have decided to keep these fixtures despite the 6 Nations starting just a week later. The French clubs do have their internationals available for selection this weekend, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see a few being rested by clubs more sympathetic to the national cause. One game however where I do feel there’s a nice betting opportunity is this match between Toulon and Bayonne on Saturday afternoon.

Bayonne come into this match with their third coaching set up in charge - yes third, with the season little more than a couple weeks past the halfway mark. Their flamboyant owner rolled out the cheque-book pre-season to bolster their squad with some big name signings, however it's mostly failed to gel so far at the club and the powers have been swift to wield the axe at the top when they've not been satisfied with the results on the pitch. This has left the Bayonne squad wondering just what the future holds - next season should get better now that they've poached the impressive Agen head coaches for when it all starts again in August 2012, however they'll need to ensure they maintain T14 status beforehand and that's going to be no easy task in itself. Bayonne face a run of tough matches starting with this encounter at Toulon, followed by Stade Francais, Clermont, Racing and Montpellier, and it's hard to see where they're going to pick up a win based on current happenings at the club.

Another worrying factor for Bayonne fans is that they've yet to collect a win on the road in the T14 all season. Toulon are more of the reverse - unbeaten at home since the second week of the tournament, way back on the 03rd of September, and have shown an ability to rack up 30 plus points on the scoreboard on several occasions on their home turf. In their last match they showed real battle in almost causing a big upset at Clermont, a fortress of a ground that very few teams come close to coming away with anything. They are showing signs of finally getting their cosmopolitan side to gel – it was always going to take a little time, but with the likes of Bakkies Botha and Matt Giteau having some game-time under their belts, I’m expecting further improvement from Toulon this weekend, and especially while the six nations tournament is taking place.

CURRENT FORM

Toulon (WWLLW)

21^st Jan – beat Rovigo 50-6 away (Amlin Challenge)

15^th Jan – beat Lyon 29-11 home (Amlin Challenge)

08^th Jan – lost to Clermont 19-25 away (T14)

31^st Dec – lost to Biarritz 6-25 away (T14)

13^th Dec – beat Agen 34-12 home (T14)

Bayonne (WWLLD)

22^nd Jan – beat Rovigo 92-6 home (Amlin Challenge)

12^th Jan – beat Bordeaux 12-6 away (Amlin Challenge)

07^th Jan – lost to Bordeaux 20-27 home (T14)

30^th Dec – lost to Toulouse 15-30 away (T14)

23^rd Dec – drew with Castres 16-16 home (T14)

LATEST ODDS

Toulon at 1/7 with Sportsbet

Draw at 33/1 with WSB

Bayonne at 5.8/1 with Hollywoodbets

Handicap

Toulon -11 at 10/11 with Sportsbet

Bayonne +12 (tie no bet) at 9/10 with Betxchange

BETTING STRATEGY

Although Bayonne nearly put up a ton against Rovigo last weekend, you only need to look at the poor quality of the part-timers Rovigo to realise that that this result shouldn’t be taken for too much merit. They have been struggling for a while now in the Top 14, and the mood in the camp is still going to be quite pessimistic. One bonus they have is that summer signing, Aussie Mark Chisholm, looks set to finally make a return from injury to help bolster their pack. But overall I’m struggling to see the bad run of T14 results ending anytime soon for Bayonne, and in Toulon they’re facing a team who’ve probably had a big performance coming for some time. They confident on their home turf and tend to turn the screw when on top of teams – get an early lead and I feel this minus handicap should be covered with a little bit to spare here, and that’s where I’m heading with a medium sized punt.

Selection: 4 units Toulon -11 @ 10/11 (available at Sportsbet)

Check out our rugby thread in our discussion forum for any further thoughts on this weekend’s European rugby, where you're welcome to share your own thoughts as well get those of fellow punters on all the weekend rugby action.

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