Centre David Marty will lead Perpignan against Brive at the Stade Aime Giral on Wednesday night © Getty Images

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Matches: Perpignan 21 - 9 Brive

Tournaments/Tours: French Top 14

Teams: Brive | France | Perpignan

Perpignan and Brive will be keen to keep pace with the Top 14 leaders when they clash at the Stade Aime Giral on Wednesday night.

The defending champions will be bullish having handed Toulouse their first defeat of the season on Saturday but they will face an equally stern challenge in the form of Brive who held leaders Clermont Auvergne to a draw on their last outing.

Brive got their season back on track with that 9-9 draw at Stade Amedee-Domenech having been crushed 38-0 by Toulouse the previous week. That form guide suggests that Perpignan - who only lost five games on their way to the title last season - will continue on an upward curve but only time will tell how much their latest exploits took out of them.

Perpignan winger Maxime Mermoz, who grabbed the Catalans' only try in the victory over Toulouse, misses the Brive clash after dislocating a finger but the reliable boot of Nicolas Laharrague, who bagged 12 points last time out, will once again anchor the backline.

Brive will be boosted by the return of their first-choice fly-half Andy Goode after the England international recovered from a groin injury but they will be without centre Riki Flutey - just one week after making his Top 14 bow. He is joined on the sidelines by Gerhard Vosloo, Shaun Perry, Fabrice Estebanez, Ronnie Cooke and Retief Uys.

Perpignan: Joffrey Michel, Farid Sid, David Marty (captain), Gavin Hume, Christophe Manas, Nicolas Laharrague, David Mele, Damien Chouly, Gerrie Britz, Bertrand Guiry, Guillaume Vilaceca, Robins Tchale Watchou, Kisi Pulu, Guilhem Guirado, Sebastien Chobet

Replacements: Marius Tincu, Perry Freshwater, Rimas Alvarez Kairelis, Henry Tuilagi, Florian Cazenave, Arnaud Battle, Julien Candelon, Jerome Schuster

Brive squad: Davit Khinchagishvili, Petrisor Toderasc, Guillaume Ribes, Steve Thompson, Pascal Idieder, Pat Barnard, Jonathan Garcia, Christian Short, Damian Browne, Fabien Domingo, Arnaud Méla, Vincent Forgues, Alix Popham, Simon Azoulai, Antonie Claassen, Arnaud Pic, Jean-Baptiste Péjoine, Luciano Orquera, Horacio Agulla, Jamie Noon, Scott Spedding, Alexis Palisson, Régis Bianco, Guillaume Namy, Mathieu Besson, Andy Goode.