An all French clash completes the weekend’s Heineken Cup quarter final action on Sunday when tournament favourites Toulouse (3/1 Sporting Bet) play host to Stade Francais.

While Stade can often be seen in bright pink the disposition of their supporters may be somewhat darker given some recent performances.  Last week’s 26-14 defeat at Brive leaves them 8th in the Top 14 and in danger of missing out on European qualification for next season, although they were without many of their star names for that game including Mathieu Bastereaud and the Bergamasco brothers.

 Stade managed to top their European pool despite two defeats in the pool stages of this competition, away to both Ulster and Edinburgh but odds of 16/1 (BetFred) suggest that they have a lot of work to do if they are going to conquer Europe for the first time.

These two sides have met twice in the French this season with honours shared 9-9 in the first game in Paris before Toulouse secured a massive 26-0 victory last month to gain a possible psychological advantage going into this game.  Stade are outsiders at 3/1 with Ladbrokes to have the last laugh this weekend.

Toulouse who can call on the attacking talents of, among others, Clement Poitrenaud, Vincent Clerc and Yannik Jauzion are clear favourites at 2/5 (888 Sport) and on current form it would take something special from Stade to prevent Toulouse taking a semi final spot.  Toulouse didn’t encounter too many problems in emerging top of the pile from the pool where they faced Cardiff Blues, Sale and Harlequins.

Toulouse to win by 11-15 points is 6/1 (Blue Square) while Toulouse to repeat last month’s  encounter and triumph by 26-30 points is 20/1 withSkybet.