Paris and Tierney start for Castres in Challenge Cup

Canadian duo Taylor Paris and Matt Tierney will start for Castres against the Dragons on Saturday. It’s the 5th round of the European Challenge Cup and the winner will be at the top of Pool 1 and in a strong position to earn a place in the Quarter Finals.

Paris starts at his customary left wing position. It’s a different story for Tierney. Usually a tighthead prop, the Mississauga man will start for the first time as a professional on the loosehead side of the front row.

The change will be of interest to Canadian selectors. While there are strong options at No3 with MLR pair Jake Ilnicki and Cole Keith also contending, it’s likely that Seattle’s Djustice Sears-Duru is the only capped specialist loosehead available. Both Hubert Buydens and Rob Brouwer are nearing the end of their careers and look unlikely to continue at international level.

Saturday’s match will be the third start of the season for Tierney since joining Castres after the World Cup. In his four seasons with Pau he played 19 senior matches between the Top 14 and Challenge Cup, with just two of those starts.

Now in his third campaign with Castres, Paris has been a regular starter when fit. He played 17 matches, all starts, in 2018-19 and has appeared in 8 games with 7 starts ahead of the Dragons fixture.

Other notables in the Castres lineup include French internationals Loic Jacquet, Anthony Jelonch, Rory Kockott, and Yann David. Fiji’s Filipo Nakosi makes it two World Cup wingers, while rising talent Baptiste Delaporte captains in the absence of injured skipper Mathieu Babillot. Both Rodrigo Capo Ortega and Benjamin Urdapilleta are rested.

Tierney will be up against another young international prop in Wales tighthead Leon Brown. Other capped players in the Dragons side include hooker Elliot Dee, captain Cory Hill, No8 Ross Moriarty, halfbacks Tavis Knoyle and Sam Davies, and outside center Adam Warren.

CASTRES
1 Matt Tierney, 2 Jody Jenneker, 3 Wilfrid Hounkpatin, 4 Loic Jacquet, 5 Victor Moreaux, 6 Baptiste Delaporte (capt.), 7 Anthony Jelonch, 8 Alex Tulou, 9 Rory Kockott, 10 Thomas Fortunel, 11 Taylor Paris, 12 Yann David, 13 Thomas Combezou, 14 Filipo Nakosi, 15 Julien Dumora

Replacements: 16 Kevin Firmin, 17 Wayan de Benedittis, 18 Karena Wihongi, 19 Christophe Samson, 20 Camille Gerondeau, 21 Ludovic Radosavljevic, 22 Florian Vialelle, 23 Martin Laveau

DRAGONS
1 Lloyd Fairbrother, 2 Elliot Dee, 3 Leon Brown, 4 Joe Davies, 5 Matthew Screech, 6 Cory Hill (capt.), 7 Taine Basham, 8 Ross Moriarty, 9 Tavis Knoyle, 10 Sam Davies, 11 Rio Dyer, 12 Tom Griffiths, 13 Adam Warren, 14 Jared Rosser, 15 Jacob Botica

Replacements: 16 Ellis Shipp, 17 Josh Reynolds, 18 Chris Coleman, 19 Max Williams, 20 Harrison Keddie, 21 Rhodri Williams, 22 Arwel Robson, 23 Carwyn Penny