COUGARS boss Paul March believes it is a good time to be facing Toulouse as they head into tomorrow’s Super Eights opener.

March’s side return to the scene of one of their worst displays for years after the French outfit stuffed them 84-6 last month.

March welcomes back Hamish Barnes after two months out with the shoulder injury he sustained in May’s victory over Hemel Stags.

Paul White is also set to return after missing out against York City Knights and will take the place of Jonny Campbell whose loan extension from Bradford has yet to be confirmed.

Ash Lindsay (concussion) and Paul Handforth (leg) will not travel to France but March said: “I think it’s a good time to go to Toulouse, especially on the back of a good win against York.

“We’ve got things to prove over there, last time there we used the word ‘embarrassing’.

“The difficulty with such a short turnaround and going to France is we have six or seven players unavailable due to work, so we won’t travel with the strongest squad.

“Because of the school holidays getting to France is a bit of a nightmare.

“Half of the squad are travelling from Gatwick and half from Manchester, so the logistics side will take its toll as well.

“It’s no secret that they’re probably the best side in the division, they’re full-time and playing with a lot of confidence.

“It’s about us going there and putting a performance together. We need to keep building momentum going into these seven games and if we do that, we’ve already shown that in one-off games we’ve got a squad capable of doing something.”

Toulouse head coach Sylvain Houles has made two changes to the 19 that defeated the London Skolars a fortnight ago.

Bastien Ader has recovered from a finger injury to take the place of Gavin Marguerite, with Danny Hulme also returning in place of Samy Masselot.

Andrew Bentley is still out however as the French side’s only long term injury concern.

March added: “I want not just a performance but I need to see the right attitude too and a willingness to never give up.

“We did not have that desire to work for each other when we last went to Toulouse and the lads are fully aware of that.

“Over the last few weeks, confidence has been low but I think we got our mojo back against York.

“Hopefully that has set up nicely to go to Toulouse and produce the kind of performance that I know my team is capable of.

“It’s a time for the lads to stick together, be around each other for a few days and we’ve got a tight group.

“We thought preparation went well last time but obviously the performance wasn’t up to scratch. Hopefully the lads can now rectify that.”