DERBY DAYS/STADE FRANCAIS V TOULOUSE:This weekend the only show in Paris will be a match between two giants of the French game, clubs who have held the league title for 12 of the past 15 seasons

WHILE STADE Français in their present form have been knocking around only since 1995, the Paris club have a history of meeting (and beating) Stade Toulousain that stretches back 100 years. While Toulouse have been one of the country's biggest and most successful clubs - since reaching and losing their first French Championship final in 1909 - Stade Français spent much of the 20th century missing in action.

Toulouse made amends three years later, winning the French title in 1912, and regularly popped up at the head of the top division during the following decades - enjoying a golden era in the 1920s and recording one of the strangest results in club rugby, when, in 1934, they met RC Toulon in the Challenge Yves du Manoir (a club competition named after a brilliant young outhalf who played eight times for France before being killed in a plane crash in 1928 at the age of 23). Neither side managed to score, and the organisers - apparently fearing the situation would not change any time soon - decided against a rematch or extra-time and told both sides they were the winners.

What is remarkable about the recently rivalry is the creation, or rather re-creation, of Stade Français in the mid-1990s coincided with another upward curve in the fortunes of Toulouse; the club claimed four French league titles in a row between 1994 and 1997, and became the first champions of the European Cup, in the 1995-1996 season.

Founded in 1883 by Paris students, Stade Français have won a creditable 13 French Championships and finished second eight times. But eight of those wins and six of the second-place finishes occurred before 1908. The gap to their next crown was 90 years.

In those years only once did the Paris club reach a final, in 1927, when they failed to repeat their 1903 victory over the home side in Toulouse, losing in the same city, to the same opposition, 19-9.

While Toulouse continued to prosper in the following decades, Stade Français slumped into what seemed permanent decline in the lower divisions, until, in 1992, Max Guazzini took over the club and began to build his dream of bringing top-class club rugby back to the French capital.

In 1995, with the merger of the club and another Parisian side, Club Athlétique des Sports Généraux, Stade Français CASG was born. The club returned to the top division the same year and Guazzini's dream began to take clearer shape with the appointment of head coach Bernard Laporte.

While Toulouse were putting together the four-in-a-row in the mid-1990s, Stade Français were assiduously building a squad capable of challenging one of the top club sides in the world.

And, in May, 1998, the Paris outfit finally stepped into the big time, reaching the domestic decider at Stade de France. In front of 78,000 spectators, the local side defeated USA Perpignan 34-7. For Toulouse, and the new champions, it was game on. The two swapped the French crown the following seasons - and, between them, have held the league title for 12 of the past 15 seasons (Biarritz claiming the other three).

But, remarkably, during that time, Le derby des Stades has only once been played out on the final day of the French club rugby season.

On June 7th, 2003, Stade Français and Toulouse took to the field at Stade de France and again 78,000 watched as Fabien Galthié and Ignacio Corletto crossed for tries as the home side won 32-18.

By the late 1990s, Stade Français and Toulouse were the undoubted kingpins of French club rugby and were juggling French league rugby and the Heineken Cup. Interestingly, Ulster denied the two French sides a Heineken Cup semi-final meeting in 1999, when they defeated Toulouse in the quarter-final at Ravenhill, 15-13. Ulster, of course, then defeated Stade Français, 33-27, in the semi-final at the same venue.

And the following season it was Munster's turn to prevent the French rivals meeting in semi-final - the Irish side beat the Paris outfit 27-10 in the quarter-final in Limerick, and then remarkably accounting for Toulouse 31-25 in Bordeaux.

So the French sides had to wait until the spring of 2005 to meet in the knock-out stages of the Heineken Cup. On May 25th, at Murrayfield, Toulouse posted one of their greatest victories, claiming the European crown for the third time.

Two sides dripping with talent met in the European Cup decider, and Stade Français led until two minutes before the end, when Frederic Michalak levelled with his first penalty. In extra-time, Michalak scored a drop-goal and a penalty to deprive the Paris side a first European Cup.

This weekend, again, there is only one show in town, and, because of its growing profile, since the 2005-2006 season the clash has been held at the 80,000-seater Stade de France (the 12,000-capacity Stade Jean-Bouin of Stade Français is considered much too small).

Stade Français have become semi-regular visitors to the huge Paris venue. In 2005, Guazzini gambled by booking the ground for a Top 14 meeting with Toulouse, publicly accepting the club would have to sell at least 30,000 tickets to just break even.

Three weeks before the October 15th clash, over 60,000 tickets had been purchased, and on the day, 79,454 spectators witnessed the game - breaking the previous French league record by more than 20,000.

The following season - after playing Biarritz twice at the venue - Guazzini brought the Stade Français versus Toulouse game back to Stade de France and 79,714 turned up - another record. And last March, Stade scored a stunning 29-0 win over Toulouse in the French championship at Stade de France, outplaying the visitors in front of yet another record, and soaked, crowd - this time 79,793.

But Toulouse had the last laugh, when, thanks to three brilliant second-half tries - one from Maxime Médard and two from Yannick Jauzion - they beat their rivals 31-13 in Bordeaux last June to reach the Top 14 final, where they defeated Clermont.

This weekend, the programme at Stade de France includes cheerleaders, a parade by 1,500 kids and an acrobatic motorcycle display. The main action, however, will, again, involve two giants of club rugby, and another packed house is guaranteed for what has become known as the "French Derby".