Mike Phillips and Dimitri Yachvili are set to clash in the big battle of the scrum halves when Biarritz Olympique and the Ospreys meet in the Heineken Cup quarter-finals at Estadio Anoeta, San Sebastian, on 10 April.
Both world class No 9s are back in action following injuries that threatened to keep them on the sidelines when the knock-out stages of European club rugby's premier tournament are staged in San Sebastian, Toulouse, Dublin and Limerick.
Phillips was on the Welsh bench for the RBS 6 Nations defeat by France but a minor injury picked up in the Ospreys' match against Edinburgh kept him out of contention for the trip to Ireland to face the defending Grand Slam champions.
But he should be back and fully match fit for the Heineken Cup quarters while Yachvili was rushed back into international duty yesterday when French coach Marc Lievremont named him in his squad ahead of Sunday's clash with Italy in Paris.
Yachvili was called up after Toulouse's Frederic Michalak suffered a serious knee injury in his side's 29-0 win over Stade Français Paris which could keep him out for up to 6 months.
But Yachvili, who has been capped 41 times by his country, only returned from a knee injury of his own in Biarritz's 21-20 victory over Toulon on Saturday.
Meanwhile, while 29-year-old Yachvili needs just 23 points to become only the sixth player to score 500 Heineken Cup points, Michalak will miss Toulouse's all-French quarter-final Sunday showdown against Stade Français Paris.
It is a major blow for the only team to win three Heineken Cup crowns as they bid for another "home" match in the semi-finals against the winners of the Leinster v ASM Clermont Auvergne quarter-final at the RDS.
