It was feared the Blues captain would miss the game after leaving the field inside the first five minutes against Sale Sharks last weekend with a dislocated finger. However he has been declared fit to play alongside Jamie Roberts who has recovered from a heavy hit to the ribs in last week’s one point defeat to the Sharks.
“We’re aiming to play a brand of rugby that will get our supporters on their feet and keep them entertained and we saw a bit of that last Sunday,” said Blues director of rugby, Phil Davies.
“If we could have played like that for 80 minutes it would have been awesome. We need to be more consistent but the hard work that has been put in has been tremendous.
“Toulon, are a powerful unit, a powerful team with world-class players in every position times two. They have a galaxy of stars but we also have our own, which is important, and the match will be a great opportunity for us.
“It will be a heck of an occasion to test ourselves against one of the best squads in Europe. Their salary cap is three or four times ours but we have a group of young players who are up for the challenge.
‘It’s a great opportunity to get stuck in and try to beat them. We want the victory and have the opportunity to do it.”
The Blues will face a familiar foe, as former teammate Gethin Jenkins has been given a rare start at loosehead prop for the French side. Jenkins has been forced to play second fiddle to Andrew Sheridan since joining Toulon and he will be eager to impress.
Toulon still manage to name a side stacked with international talent including Delon Armitage, Matt Giteau, Jonny Wilkinson and Bakkies Botha.
Cardiff Blues: 15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Alex Cuthbert, 13 Gavin Evans, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Tom James, 10 Ceri Sweeney, 9 Lloyd Williams, 8 Andries Pretorius (c), 7 Sam Warburton, 6 Josh Navidi, 5 Lou Reed, 4 Bradley Davies, 3 Benoit Bourrust, 2 Marc Breeze, 1 Tafa’ao Filise.
Replacements: 16 Andi Kyriacou, 17 Nathan Trevett, 18 Scott Andrews, 19 James Down, 20 Robin Copeland, 21 Lewis Jones, 22 Jason Tovey, 23 Dafydd Hewitt.
Toulon: 15 Delon Armitage, 14 Vincent Martin, 13 Mathieu Bastareaud, 12 Matt Giteau, 11 David Smith, 10 Jonny Wilkinson, 9 Frederic Michalak, 8 Chris Masoe, 7 Steffon Armitage, 6 Juan Fernandez Lobbe, 5 Jocelino Suta, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 Davit Kubriashvili, 2 Mickael Ivaldi, 1 Gethin Jenkins.
Replacements: 16 Jean-Charles Orioli, 17 Andrew Sheridan, 18 Carl Hayman, 19 Pierrick Gunther, 20 Maxime Mermoz, 21 Benjamin Lapeyre, 22 Nicolas Durand, 23 Simon Shaw.
