Stade Francais have looked a team reborn this season under Australian coach Ewen McKenzie but French champions Toulouse will be out to wipe their smiles away and register their first defeat of the campaign on Saturday.

Stade have racked up seven wins from seven matches in the domestic championship - to hold an eight point advantage over second-placed Toulouse - and also have two wins under their belts in the European Cup including a first ever way win in Ulster.

Toulouse have suffered two defeats in their championship campaign but have also registered two wins in the European Cup, a tournament they have triumphed in three times.

However, they have both been close run affairs edging Bath 18-16 thanks to a last second penalty by David Skrela and then beating unheralded Glasgow 22-16.

For Skrela it may well mean a starting place against the team where he saw his career flower after signing from Colomiers though he will need several sparkling performances given that he faces competition for the fly-half role from Gaffie du Toit and French team-mates Jean-Baptiste Elissalde and the soon-to-return Frederic Michalak.

"I have to admit I suffered somewhat in the first training sessions," confessed Skrela.

"It is a lot more freeflowing at Toulouse, the players have more freedom, though, everything comes together in the matches."

Elissalde will slot in at his international role of scrum-half, with All Blacks star Byron Kelleher on vacation, and is relishing the challenge of taking on his relatively unknown opposite number Noel Oelschigg at the Stade de France.

"He (Oelschigg) is a typical South African scrum-half," said the 30-year-old Elissalde, capped 33 times by France.

"He is strong and likes to play around the fringes of the scrum. He still has to adapt to the style of play of his team, but you don't play first choice for Stade Francais unless you are a good player."

Elissalde, an integral part of the French side that won the Six Nations Grand Slam in 2004 and the overall title in 2006, is also wary of the mixture of coaching talents between Aussie McKenzie and former France team-mate Christophe Dominici.

"Everyone talks about how Stade just like to control the game by kicking the ball, but with the mix of the solidity of the Aussie McKenzie and the verve of 'Christo' (Dominici) they are capable of an all round game.

"I have seen them run the ball back from 60 metres."

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