French star Mathieu Bastareaud is set to make his anticipated debut for Lyon and will start at No 8 as they face Grenoble.
The 54-cap France international signed for Lyon on a short-term contract from Toulon before he heads on to MLR in the US.
It was suggested recently that the centre could move into the pack as an experiment to combat the fact that he is losing his pace.
Earlier this year former French international Thomas Castaignede also suggested that the 20 stone centre should move into the forwards to try and prolong his international career.
However, having been left out of France’s World Cup squad and then retiring from international rugby it seems more like a tactical decision.
Lyon have brought a 36-man squad for the game so if the Bastareaud experiment fails they have Carl Fearns on the bench to bring on.
The main thing is that if it doesn’t work there is still a couple of weeks until the Top 14 season starts, and if it does work then Bastareaud will have some more time to learn the ropes.
It will be interesting to see how it all pays off, but if it does work then Lyon could have a new weapon in their squad until he departs for New York.
