Pountney hopeful for return of stars

But as the Saints, Heineken Cup champions in 2000, get away from the relegation battle in the Zurich Premiership this weekend, the two players are all set to play at Le Stadium.

Northampton have only ever won once on the road in France in the Heineken Cup - 19-6 at Agen last season - and Pountney fully understands the task facing his side.

"We are just about to face a team of French internationals in the shape of Toulouse. It is going to give us a bit of a headache working out how fast they come at us," said Pountney.

"We are going into the game having picked up a win at the weekend and with a bit of pressure off us, but they are going into the game off a massive victory over Brive so they are not going to have any worries about playing against us.

"We are going into the lion's den not really knowing what we are going to face. It is nice to think about something different other than the domestic league and we should be able to relax a little on Friday night.

"But we all know we are facing a huge task - it's almost an unattainable win for us.

"We will just have to give it our best shot, be very organised and clinical with our game plan - and we must not miss any first-up tackles."

This will be the fourth time the two clubs have met with Toulouse having triumphed 32-16 on home soil in the 2002 / 2003 quarter-finals and this season's Pool match.

However, the Saints beat Toulouse at Franklin's Gardens in what was Pountney's and fellow stand-in coach Paul Grayson' second game in charge - and their first victory.

"When we went to Toulouse for a quarter-final last time we were third in the league and still got well beaten," said Pountney.

"Since Paul and I took over the results have got better, the attitude has improved and we are now a tighter team and this is very much a bonus game for us. Anything you get from a knock-out competition is great.

"We would love to win and move into the semi-finals, but when we took over our main priority was to avoid relegation."