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Racing 92 are into unchartered waters and well-placed to come out on top. The European Champions Cup Final in Lyon this Saturday is to be the first ever in the city and the first hosted by France since 2010. On that occasion Toulouse downed Biarritz 21-19.
Involved in the match were Pumas second-rower Patricio Albacete and Manuel Carizza. The pair were rivals that day and the latter of the two is back to feature in Lyon this weekend as a replacement. Carizza is one of two Pumas selected for Racing 92, the other being Juan Imhoff who will play left wing.
Another former Biarritz player from 2010 will feature, albeit for Saracens. Marcelo Bosch missed out on the 2010 Final through injury but was a 2014 Champions Cup finalists with Saracens. On that afternoon Bosch played outside center while the USA’s Chris Wyles was a replacement.
This time around Wyles will start on the left wing for the London-based club with Bosch acting as a utility replacement back. Also named on the Saracens bench will be Juan Figallo.
RACING 92:
15 Brice Dulin, 14 Joe Rokocoko, 13 Johannes Goosen, 12 Alexandre Dumoulin, 11 Juan Imhoff, 10 Dan Carter, 9 Maxime Machenaud, 8 Chris Masoe, 7 Bernard Le Roux, 6 Wenceslas Lauret, 5 Francois van der Merwe, 4 Luke Charteris, 3 Ben Tameifuna, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski (capt.), 1 Eddy Ben Arous
Replacements: 16 Virgile Lacombe, 17 Khatchik Vartanov, 18 Luc Ducalcon, 19 Manuel Carizza, 20 Antonie Claassen, 21 Mike Phillips, 22 Rémi Talès, 23 Henry Chavancy
SARACENS: 15 Alex Goode, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Duncan Taylor, 12 Brad Barritt (capt.), 11 Chris Wyles, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Richard Wigglesworth, 8 Billy Vunipola, 7 Will Fraser, 6 Michael Rhodes, 5 George Kruis, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Petrus Du Plessis, 2 Schalk Brits, 1 Mako Vunipola
Replacements: 16 Jamie George, 17 Richard Barrington, 18 Juan Figallo, 19 Jim Hamilton, 20 Jackson Wray, 21 Ben Spencer, 22 Charlie Hodgson, 23 Marcelo Bosch
