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| - La Rochelle's France No. 8 Gregory Alldritt said he is glad to have a busy early season schedule which includes travelling to French Top 14 champions Toulouse on Saturday. Alldritt's side beat four-time championship winners Toulon in the opening round of the campaign last week and will face three of the last four league champions before mid-October. "We have a really intense start to the season but it's not that bad as we get right into the deep end straight away," the 23-year-old said on Monday. La Rochelle have signed Australia lock Will Skelton for the new term and Alldritt said the two-time European Cup and English Premiership winner will only be beneficial to the outfit who have never reached a Top 14 final. "He's an international quality player. That top-level experience, which he had with Saracens, you can see it," Alldritt said. "He tries to pass it on to us. I think he'll become a very important player in the squad and will do us a lot of good." On Sunday, Toulouse were edged 33-30 at Clermont despite receiving two red cards and leading with less than 10 minutes to play. "They haven't lost anything in the way they play, they play a lot, they never give up," Alldritt said. "Even with 13 against 15, they never tightened up, they played like they know how to, and were very dangerous. We know what's coming." Alldritt is expected to be called up to les Bleus's squad for a busy calendar, which included ending the Six Nations and a newly-created Eight Nations competition, this autumn. Fabien Galthie's side can clinch the title for the first time in a decade if they beat Ireland on October 31 and other results go their way. "There's the tournament to go and take. If I'm selected, we'll focus on the end of the Six Nations which is very important for us, then we'll see for the matches which follow," he said. Elsewhere this weekend Wallabies' playmaker Kurtley Beale is set to make his home Racing 92 debut as they host Handre Pollard's Montpellier. On Sunday, Stade Francais travel to Castres in their first game of the term after their season-opener was postponed due to a lack of healthy front-rowers who had contracted coronavirus. Lyon will be without one-cap All Black centre Charlie Ngatai who is suffering from concussion as they head to Eben Etzebeth's Toulon. Fixtures (all times GMT) Friday Pau v Agen, Racing 92 v Montpellier (both 1845) Saturday Toulouse v La Rochelle (1315), Bordeaux-Begles v Brive, Bayonne v Clermont (both 1615) Sunday Castres v Stade Francais (1700), Toulon v Lyon (1900) iwd/lp
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