Five friendlies tonight, from the Landes derby to Biarritz v USAP

Pre-season is getting serious. Five friendlies are scheduled on Friday evening, a week before Nationale resumes and two weeks before Pro D2 gets under way. Here is the round-up, with what past meetings tell us.

Dax v Stade Montois, 9.15pm

The Landes derby is Mont-de-Marsan’s only warm-up match before Nationale resumes. Between first teams, the two clubs have met 41 times, with a remarkably even record: 21 wins for Dax, 19 for Mont-de-Marsan and one draw. Dax have won six of the last ten.

Biarritz v USAP, 8pm

First outing of the season for both clubs, and above all the first real test for Laurent Labit’s heavily rebuilt squad, fresh from a three-day camp in Saint-Lary. The Catalans lead 30 wins to 26 across the 56 recorded professional meetings, and have won eight of the last ten. But the two clubs had not met since 8 January 2022, when Perpignan won 25-23 away at BO. On the Basque side, Mathieu Acebes will face his former club.

Agen v Colomiers, 7.15pm in Valence-d’Agen

Twenty-seven meetings between the two first teams, a record in Agen’s favour (15 wins to 11, one draw), but a recent trend that clearly favours Colomiers: seven wins from the last ten. The two clubs meet in a friendly for the third year running, a week after a successful first run-out for both, Agen winning 45-35 at Soyaux-Angoulême and Colomiers beating Brive 38-12. Their last competitive meeting was in January, an 8-18 win for Colomiers.

Nevers v Oyonnax, 7.30pm

The balance of power is clear across the thirteen recorded professional meetings: 10 wins for Oyonnax, 3 for Nevers. The most recent was on 8 May, a 26-47 win for Oyonnax. Oyonnax finally have a full squad, with Georgians Vasil Lobzhanidze and Luka Matkava back and the last three signings now in.

Grenoble v Valence-Romans, 7pm

This one has a special flavour: it is the first team’s last match at the Parc des Sports Lesdiguières before the ground is turned into a training centre. FCG lead 9 wins to 6 across the fifteen professional meetings between the two clubs, but Valence-Romans have won the last three, including a 25-19 win in Grenoble in April.

The records above only cover matches between first teams, in professional leagues and cups. Espoirs, Reichel and Crabos age-grade matches, which are frequent between neighbouring clubs, are excluded.