The record 48, 990 crowd in the Stade Velodrome comfortably beat the previous best of 31, 986 at Lyon's Stade Gerland in 1999, when Montferrand beat Bourgoin 35-16.
Alas, all thoughts of successive Grand Slams bit the dust in the biting cold of the Stade de France, but Ireland at least got their championship bid back on track with a stirring win over England.
The absence of several first XV players, including Jimmy Gopperth, Jeremy Manning and Gcobani Bobo, forced Tait to field a string of inexperienced development players in the cauldron of Montpellier's Stade Yves-du-Manoir.
If he can produce the goods once again in the cauldron of the Stade de France, then Hook will surely have convinced Gatland that he is also the man who will guide Wales from fly-half when the World Cup gets under way next September.
The winners of match in the Stade de France will become the first side to lift the Webb Ellis trophy twice.
The victory puts Bristol ahead of Stade Francais in pool three and level on points with Cardiff with just two games to go.
Bosc again made no mistake with the boot in front of just under 10, 000 spectators at the Stade Gilbert Brutus in Perpignan.
And unprecedented back-to-back wins in the Heineken Cup - a thrilling last-minute win over Stade Francais in 2001 and a no-nonsense defeat of Munster in 2002 - confirmed Leicester as the best team in Europe.
The first encounter between the two sides saw Harlequins stage a smash and grab raid in front of over 76, 000 spectators at the Stade de France last Saturday.
In 2009, Guingamp of the second division, defeated Stade Rennais, while other teams outside the top flight such as Chateauroux, Amiens, Calais and Sedan have all reached the final in recent time.
Yet Swansea proved a match for Stade Francais two years ago when Connolly was in charge of the French powerhouses, and the Australian will be hoping they can confound French opposition once again.
Scotland have not beaten Argentina since 1990 but Hadden hopes continuity of selection will work in his favour at the Stade de France.
Hernandez has established himself as one of the leading backs in the world after impressing for both Stade and Argentina in recent seasons.
The ecstatic home supporters roared their approval and demanded a lap of honour - and the players duly obliged, evoking memories of that famous 1999 semi-final win over Stade Francais in which Humphreys senior had played such an important part.
King helped inspire the Scarlets to the semi-final of the Heineken Cup in 2007 following his move to south Wales from Stade Francais in 2005.
Stade Velodrome rocked in the sun to Toulon's traditional pre-match chant of "Pilou Pilou", a haka-esque song taken up by the majority of the 48, 990 fans who descended on Marseille.
But the overwhelming majority of the Pumas squad play their club rugby in Europe, with Pichot himself one of six Argentines on the books of French giants Stade Francais.
BBC: SPORT | Rugby Union | Internationals | Pichot targets Six Nations place
In addition, he is encouraged by the form of Sean Lamont at Scarlets and Hugo Southwell at Stade Francais and by the imminent return from injury of Simon Danielli.
BBC: Robinson urges Scots to make history against All Blacks
Ulster's Heineken hopes had floundered at the first hurdle in recent seasons, with home defeats by Gloucester and Stade Francais immediately putting paid to any realistic hopes of last eight qualification, but a barnstorming second half performance suggested this year could be different.
But they are in a true group of death with Munster, London Irish and Toulon, who they face at the Stade Felix-Mayol.
One of the most painful of those was the 19-13 loss in the 2007 World Cup quarter-final at the Stade de France and, when Argentina beat Scotland in the first Test in South America last year, one feared it could yet be a long wait until victory was experienced again.
Stade Malien top the group with nine points ahead of Bayelsa by virtue of having scored more away goals in their head-to-head matches.
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