The 29-year-old plied his trade around Britain before moving to France from Edinburgh to play for the Paris-based outfit last summer.

And Southwell – who returned to the Scottish ranks following a raft of injuries during this year’s RBS 6 Nations – admits he has now reached the peak of his career at Stade Francais.

“Facing Toulouse will be one of the biggest occasions of my career and it’s just the kind of game I want to measure myself in,” said Southwell.

“Edinburgh had some wonderful European results when I was at Murrayfield but we were seldom able to string together a run of results.

“I needed some fresh challenges – and one of them was the chance to figure in the advanced stages of the tournament.”