Two proud rugby nations go toe-to-toe at Stade de France in Round 3 of the RBS Six Nations this weekend.
Two proud rugby nations go toe-to-toe at Stade de France in Round 3 of the RBS Six Nations but in six weeks time there will be another mighty clash when the flag bearers and pride of Welsh and French club rugby collide at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff in the Heineken Cup quarter-finals.
Cardiff Blues against triple European champions Toulouse will get the quarter-final ball rolling - Toulouse the sole French qualifiers as Les Bleus have failed to have two or more clubs involved in the quarter-finals for the first time while the Welsh version of the Blues are joined by the Ospreys in the last eight.
Toulouse are the only club to have won European club rugby's most coveted trophy three times, playing 100 matches in the process, and got that winning streak going when they beat Cardiff 21-18 in extra time of the first final back in 1996.
Thirteen years on and, come 11 April, there could be a strong case of déjà vu for a number of today's internationals.
When national coach Marc Lièvremont announced his Six Nations squad, there was virtually an entire back division of Toulouse players - Jean-Baptiste Elissalde, Yannick Jauzion, Florian Fritz, Clément Poitrenaud, Maxime Médard and Cédric Heymans. And up front there was Benoit Lecouls, Romain Millo-Chluski and Thierry Dusautoir.
Wales coach Warren Gatland selected nine Cardiff Blues players - Leigh Halfpenny, Jamie Roberts, Tom Shanklin, Gethin Jenkins, John Yapp, Bradley Davies, Andy Powell, Robin Sowden-Taylor and Martyn Williams.
And, all being well, the head-to-head between flankers Dusautoir and Williams could be decisive when the clubs collide.
Williams is almost irreplaceable for either club or country - as Gatland demonstrated when he made his first task one of coaxing Williams out of international retirement - while Dusautoir, six years younger than Williams, will be part of the French set-up for years to come.
Another fascinating contest should come in the midfield with Jauzion and Fritz up against Roberts and Shanklin, the barn-storming Roberts rapidly becoming the Welsh find of the season with his powerful runs.
Another new star to have announced his arrival this season is Blues wing Halfpenny, his try against England his fourth in just five Tests, while Toulouse are spoilt for choice in their back three with the supreme talents and finishing power of Heymans, Médard, Poitrenaud and Elissalde.
When the dust settles on another Six Nations Championship in three weeks time all eyes will turn towards the Heineken Cup - and that next French-Welsh contest in Cardiff.
