Toulouse are likely to give new signing Junior Vaivai his debut in tomorrow’s crunch visit to Craven Park.

Auckland-born Vaivai, a 29-year-old centre is a US international having made eight appearance for the Hawks – actor Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson is a cousin – and he played for Penrith and South Sydney before moving to Hull KR last year.

But after a successful first season, he has slipped out of contention as the Robins battle to avoid the drop. He had a loan spell with York and has joined Toulouse on two-year deal after his release by the East Yorkshire club.

Toulouse have been without play maker Jonathon Ford and top scorer Mark Kheirallah in recent weeks, and come to town on the back of two defeats that have all but ended their hopes of finishing top of the Championship.

Following the shock setback at the hands of Swinton, they were beaten 28-16 in Toronto leaving them rubbing shoulders with Leigh and York, ten points behind the Wolfpack.

But the double blow has not dented the French side’s ambitions of earning a Super League spot via the play-offs.

“Our goal is promotion to Super League at the end of this year,” said president Bernard Sarraizan. “Our ambition is to be one of the major clubs in the region like Catalan are in Perpignan.”

Part of that ambition is to move out of their limited home, with its capacity of less than 4,000, to ground share with the local rugby union club at their 19,500 capacity stadium, the venue of their 46-16 win over Toronto earlier in the season which attracted a 6,000-plus crowd.

Raiders fans won’t need reminding of the last time Toulouse were in town. They ran in 13 tries to go home with a 72-6 victory, which is believed to be Barrow’s worst-ever home defeat.

Earlier in the season, they beat Barrow 50-0 in France but the recent upturn in the form of Paul Crarey’s men suggests tomorrow’s game will be a much tighter affair.