Better days in Europe for French connection
What is clear is that the staging of the final at the Stade de France next May has offered a fresh incentive to all their teams. Over the years a number of French championship sides have suffered huge criticism for their laissez faire attitude towards Europe but that has certainly changed for the better this season. Witness the performances of Stade Francais, Toulouse and Clermont, all playing away from home last weekend, as an indicator of their hunger for success this time out.
Toulouse fought back from a deficit of 14 points to beat Harlequins at The Stoop while Stade Francais were nine down at the Recreation Ground and still managed to topple Bath. The Parisian outfit, under new management after a disastrous start to their domestic season, seem almost inspired by the prospect of the tournament decider in their back yard. With two opening defeats it would appear that poetic justice has arrived in the wake of Bloodgate and that Harlequins will not make the quarter-finals.
Clermont Auvergne, surely the unluckiest team in Europe in terms of the severity of their pool draw, were pipped by a single point after a penalty from the Ospreys impressive young out half Dan Bigger.
So much for French vulnerability on the road.
Biarritz are sitting pretty on top of Pool 2 with two wins and nine points while as Munster are about to discover in December, Perpignan despite that shock result away to Benetton Treviso have not gone away either.
So where does that leave the Irish? With three successes over the last four seasons can we sustain our assault against such quality opposition? While Ulster have made a promising start to the season their loss to Edinburgh Saturday will prove costly as they face difficult back to back games with Stade Francais. The only consolation for them is that the first is in Ravenhill where they have an excellent record against Max Giovanni’s multi national outfit. However Ulster are not serious contenders in Europe this season as they continue their rehabilitation under a new, promising and home grown management team. So that leaves holders Leinster and the winners in 2006 and 2008 Munster.
Despite that terrible opening day reversal against London Irish, Leinster are in good shape. The Scarlets’ win in Reading last Saturday was a boost for Leo Cullen’s side as they now prepare for their double header against a very familiar opponent in two months time. The return to action of Stephen Jones has helped the Scarlets to park their Magners League form and they are playing some great rugby.
The most interesting thing about Leinster is that they are undertaking a reconstruction of their side even though they are the holders. Very few teams would contemplate bedding in a brand new half back partnership at this stage of their development but that is exactly what Leinster have been forced to do with the retirement of Chris Whitaker and the decision of Felipe Contepomi to decamp to Toulon. Hence Eoin Reddan and Jonathan Sexton are now steering the ship at the RDS. As a pair they are growing with every outing.
The fact that both are Irish qualified and that Mike Ross is also making a serious bid for the tight head shirt occupied by Cook Islander Stan Wright last season is good news for Declan Kidney. Michael Cheika is also successfully integrating good young talent in Sean O’Brien and Kevin McLaughlin in the back row. In addition, the babes of the backline, Luke Fitzgerald and Rob Kearney, are already senior figures with plenty of international experience and a Lions tour to draw on. They will be primed for leadership roles over the next few seasons when Shane Horgan, Girvan Dempsey, Gordon D’Arcy and Brian O’Driscoll finally call it a day.
Accepting that Brive are by far the least competitive French team in this years tournament one couldn’t but be impressed with the workman-like manner in which Leinster approached their trip to France last weekend.
Leinster are now well positioned and if they can engineer a win when they face a second away trip in a row at Parc Y Scarlets on December 12th they will regain control of this pool.
So where do Munster stand? Well despite all the talk of doom and gloom they go into the November break on top of Pool 1. Front row problems apart, things are on an upward spiral for Paul O Connell’s charges. The upcoming Magners League games against Edinburgh and Ulster will afford the senior players and Jean de Villiers more time to get up to speed. Then the fact a sizeable proportion of the squad will see tough competitive action against southern hemisphere opposition in November will ensure that — injuries apart — they will be in far better nick to face the challenge of taking on a bruising Perpignan side twice in nine days in December.
That will decide their fate in this year’s competition as Northampton are likely to rack up the points when they take on Benetton Treviso twice over the same period.
Last season Munster were flying at this time of the year, playing some of the best rugby we have seen from them. Tony McGahan sought to bring them to a new level and succeeded in doing so until the wheels came off dramatically in that Heineken Cup semi-final against Leinster. That can happen against a rival that knows you so well and were driven themselves by the fear of failure.
Munster have been slower out of the blocks this season but with so many players easing their way back after the physical and mental demands of a Lions tour, Tomás O’Leary and Jerry Flannery recovering from serious injury and Alan Quinlan from suspension that is hardly surprising. The loss of John Hayes has been even greater than anticipated and defensively Munster have been poor. Suffice to say there is scope for improvement but I am confident that Munster will be primed when Perpignan arrive in Thomond Park for what should be a cracker. By then hopefully McGahan will have a full deck of front row cards to call on. On the evidence of Perpignan’s destruction of the Northampton scrum on Saturday he will need all hands on board.
