Two and a half without Top 14, that is a long time! Every year the summer creates a long wait for the fans of the best league in the world. Happily for them, the close-season friendlies are there to make up for the shortfall a little. Pro D2 clubs have already been able to work with live ammunition, but that is not yet the case for those in the division above, who finished their season later and therefore, logically, started their preparation for the next one later too.

Since somebody has to go first, it is Racing 92 who get things under way this Friday against Brive at Biars-sur-Cère (8pm). An annual fixture between two clubs who share a sponsor and have got into the habit of playing each other every summer.

Every ticket for Vannes – Toulouse gone in a matter of hours

Something of a prologue, in fact, since the rest of the pack will not play until next week. Among the games scheduled is the eagerly awaited meeting next Thursday between Stade Toulousain, who only went back into training at the beginning of August, and RC Vannes, at Guingamp’s Roudourou stadium. The 12,000 tickets put on sale for that match were snapped up in barely a few hours, proof that the Breton public has lost none of its appetite for rugby despite RCV’s drop into Pro D2!

No less awaited is the iconic Basque derby between Bayonne and Biarritz, which will be played at the same time as Vannes – Toulouse, at the Jean-Dauger stadium. And with one derby hiding another, Racing 92 and Stade français will meet on 23 August at 7pm at the Gaston-Petit stadium in Châteauroux.

The full programme

  • 15 August: Brive – Racing 92 at Biars-sur-Cère (8pm)
  • 21 August: Vannes – Toulouse at Guingamp (8pm)
  • 21 August: Bayonne – Biarritz at Bayonne (8pm)
  • 22 August: Montauban – Castres at Montauban (7.30pm)
  • 22 August: Soyaux-Angoulême – Bordeaux-Bègles at Angoulême (7.30pm)
  • 22 August: Pau – Montpellier at Auch (7pm)
  • 22 August: Brive – Clermont at Brive (9pm)
  • 22 August: Perpignan – Toulon at Perpignan (7.30pm)
  • 23 August: Racing 92 – Stade français at Châteauroux (7pm)
  • 28 August: Pau – La Rochelle at Mont-de-Marsan (7pm)
  • 28 August: Bayonne – Toulouse at Bayonne (7.30pm)
  • 28 August – Montauban – UBB at Agen (8pm)
  • 29 August: Castres – Harlequins at Mazamet (8.30pm)
  • 29 August: Perpignan – Montpellier at Perpignan (7.30pm)
  • 29 August: Clermont – Toulon at Issoire (7pm)
  • 29 August: Lyon – Zebre at Lyon (4pm)