Racing 92 begin life without Siya Kolisi as they host Clermont in the French Top 14 on Saturday in a stadium very different to their ultra-modern indoor Paris La Defense Arena.
Reports that Kolisi was leaving Racing after just one season of his three-year deal had been circulating since early August. On Sunday the Parisians confirmed the iconic flanker, who is on international duty and had not played for the club this season, was going.
Kolisi, who turned 33 in June, told French newspaper L'Equipe on Sunday he was returning to South Africa because finding rest periods between a busy club schedule and Test commitments with the Springboks was too difficult.
"The original plan was not to continue to play international rugby," Racing 92 director of rugby Stuart Lancaster told The Rugby Paper podcast.
Shifting goalposts
"Once he decided to continue to play international rugby that changed the dynamic for both parties.
"If you're a South African you're playing 12 months of the year and at 33 years old it's tough to do," Lancaster added.
Racing's game, which will also be ex-England captain Owen Farrell's home debut, will be played at a fourth-division football ground on the other side of Paris.
Lancaster's outfit will welcome Clermont to the south-eastern suburb of Creteil and the 12,000-capacity Stade Dominique-Duvauchelle, renovated in 2004 after being built in the 1980s.
Racing's La Defense Arena was used as the swimming venue during this summer's Olympic and Paralympic Games and will remain unavailable for rugby matches until October.
"I think we need to make it feel like home quickly," Lancaster told reporters this week.
"By training here on Tuesday and Friday we can do that quickly.
"It's a good change for us, it's no problem for the players," he added.
Whether he’s playing the All Blacks or any other opposition, @Springboks skipper Siya Kolisi says he gives ‘absolutely everything’ every time he puts on the Green and Gold jersey.
— IOL Sport (@IOLsport) August 30, 2024
📽️: @Golfhackno1 pic.twitter.com/bsjo5AlkR0
Toulouse ‘complex'
The mouth-watering tie from the second weekend of the season is a re-run of the 2021 and 2023 Top 14 finals as record 23-time champions Toulouse face La Rochelle on Sunday.
Toulouse beat Ronan O'Gara's team in both finals and in last season's semi-final as well as in 2021 European Champions Cup final. La Rochelle have not won at Stade Ernest-Wallon since 2017.
"The reality is that we're not relevant to them because they're better than us," the former Ireland fly-half said after last Sunday's win over Toulon.
"But a game is 80 minutes.
"I have to know if some of the players in the squad have a Toulouse complex.
"If we've already lost the game before going there…
"We have to work and find a solution to perform better than we usually do down there," he added.
Elsewhere, former Scotland captain Stuart Hogg will miss Montpellier's meeting with Perpignan.
The match comes days after the 32-year-old was arrested and then granted bail for allegedly breaching previous bail conditions ahead of his trial for domestic abuse.
The match will take place in Beziers as the pitch at the Catalans' home of Stade Aime-Giral is being re-laid.
Breton club Vannes' first away game in the world's most lucrative rugby league is in Paris against 14-time champions Stade Francais.
The match has been moved forward two hours to avoid a clash with an Olympic and Paralympic parade in front of an expected 70,000 people, 5km away on the Champs-Elysees.
Fixtures (times GMT)
Saturday
Toulon v Castres, Stade Francais v Vannes (both 1230), Racing 92 v Clermont, Pau v Bayonne, Perpignan v Montpellier (all 1430), Lyon v Bordeaux-Begles (1905)
Sunday
Toulouse v La Rochelle (1905)
AFP