Edmonds looks to Catalan faithful

LANSDOWNE ROAD man of the match Manny Edmonds believes Perpignan’s fans will make the Heineken Cup final a spectacle to remember in Dublin next month.

Tournament organisers ERC were left with a major headache when both Irish teams failed to reach the May 24 showpiece, but Australian flyhalf Edmonds has faith in his own club’s Catalan following to generate an atmosphere worthy of the occasion.

Asked if he had any problems playing the final in Dublin, Edmonds replied: “No, definitely not. The Irish people are great, the stadium’s very well known throughout the world and it will be better for us to play here than in Toulouse.

“I think we’ll have a lot of guys coming over to support us in the final. Our supporters are very much like Munster supporters, probably on a lesser scale, but they’re fanatical about the team and they love us, especially at home.

“They are why we have such a good reputation at home and why we’ve beaten quality teams like Munster and Gloucester at home as well. They’ll travel to see us in the final. And if big numbers come over you’ll see some of that Catalan spirit. They’re unbelievable and some of the boys in the squad are very proud of that background as well.”

Perpignan were extremely proud of their performance in upsetting Leinster 21-14 in front of their own Dublin fans. That it was viewed an upset at all confirmed Edmonds’ belief that the Catalans had been underestimated throughout the competition this season.

“Underestimated? Yeah, maybe; we’re not really considered a Toulouse or a Biarritz back in France, but we have beaten a lot of good teams in this competition to get to the final: Gloucester at home, Munster at home and now Llanelli and Leinster away.

“So we’ve beaten some quality opposition. We like to think we’ve played well in those games as well but maybe we have been underestimated. That’s probably because we don’t have any internationals, apart from Phil Murphy (Canada) and Rimas Alvares Kairelis (Argentina).

“Those teams that do have the stars very much rely on those international players to perform every week. We have a bunch of 22, even more than that with the squad, who perform every week and if that’s the case you’re always going to get results.”

Edmonds, 26 earlier this month, joined the French side this season from the NSW Waratahs and has seen a remarkable improvement in the side since their defeat to Munster at Thomond Park back in October.

“I knew they were a mid to top range sort of a club that had made the semi-finals of the Top 16 in France for the last couple of years but hadn’t done much in the Heineken Cup,” Edmonds said.

“But we’re a team that’s improved as the year has gone on.

“At the end of last year we had a few problems. But we sat down and had a chat about it and ever since then we’ve performed well in both competitions.

“There are no superstars in the team, no internationals apart from the Canadian and the Argentinean; but we’re a team that get the job done and work well together.”

Meanwhile, Leinster have criticised pundits for labelling them favourites to reach the final.

Coach Matt Williams said: “I have to say I disagreed completely with the reading of the media on the Irish teams over the last couple of weeks.

“There were two Irish teams and two French teams, so it should have been 50-50 either way and I think we assume too much sometimes.”