If there was any doubt in Leicester minds whether they would face Dan Carter, the New Zealand fly half, when they meet Perpignan in the Heineken Cup on Sunday, it was resolved by the French club yesterday. Paul Goze, the Perpignan president, who has brought Carter in on a short-term contract worth some £30,000 a match, confirmed that he would start, though Goze sounded resigned to the possibility that Perpignan's greater interest now is winning the Top 14 title.

“With us being three matches from the end of the pool stages [in Europe], we are not masters of our own destiny now,” he said, knowing that Perpignan lie third in pool three having accumulated five points from three matches. “We're going all out to beat Leicester and have no regrets.

“Perpignan are a good team but one which, until now, has never been able to make that last step up. With Carter, we have the possibility of doing that.”

Leicester's concern is that their own French contingent should be able to travel to the Mediterranean. Julien Dupuy, their import from Biarritz, will start at scrum half once more because Harry Ellis's back problem is still troubling him, but Benjamin Kayser, the hooker, will have a fitness test today on a bruised knee.

In addition, Heyneke Meyer, the Leicester head coach, has available four survivors, including Geordan Murphy and Lewis Moody, of the last visit Leicester made to Perpignan, in 2001, when they won 31-30.

London Irish, the Guinness Premiership leaders, who play Dax at the Madejski Stadium in the European Challenge Cup tomorrow, have re-signed three of their core forwards. Declan Danaher, the flanker, and Kieran Roche have agreed three-year extensions and Faan Rautenbach, the former South Africa prop, a further two years.

The Rugby Union Players' Association (RUPA) in Australia has launched a health and safety investigation after Matt Dunning and Sekope Kepu, the Wallabies props, were seriously injured when a scrum collapsed in last week's game against the Barbarians at Wembley.

The RUPA is concerned by the instability of the surface during the match - the first rugby union fixture to be played at the new national stadium.