All-round strength will win us match, says Pelous
And Perpignan captain Bernard Goutta admits he would prefer to have played a British or Irish side in only their second final in 50 years.
“We are expecting a very passionate Perpignan pack,” said Pelous, capped 77 times by France. “But we know what we have to do.”
Toulouse suffered a blow this week when live-wire scrumhalf Jean-
Baptiste Elissalde tore a thigh muscle and withdrew. Elissalde, a close-season signing from La Rochelle, made all the difference when Toulouse edged out side Munster by a single point in last month’s semi-finals in Toulouse.
He set up Frederic Michalak for the try he then converted to win the match.
Michalak, used by France at outside half this season, will now revert to scrumhalf alongside Yann Delaigue.
Manager Guy Noves, whose side beat 2000 European champions Northampton in the quarter-finals, was unworried.
“You always have to cater for injuries in rugby,” he said. “It’s true Elissalde had a good match against Munster but we have adequate replacements.”
Perpignan have no injury worries but Goutta, a combative flanker, fears the all-round Toulouse strength.
“We’d have preferred a British side playing more structured rugby. With Toulouse you never knew where the danger comes from.”
Toulouse can count on current France Test backs Clement Poitrenaud, Xavier Gabajosa, Vincent Clerc, Michalak and former Test players Delaigue and Emile Ntamack, the only survivor from Toulouse’s 1996 European champion side.
Perpignan, whose 1998 French championship final defeat to Stade Francais was their first final since 1955, overcame Llanelli in Wales in the quarter-finals and beat Brian O’Driscoll’s Leinster in Dublin in the semi-finals.
Goutta said he was less upset than Toulouse at the idea of two French sides having to play the final in Ireland.
“We’ve developed a taste for travelling. It’s a pity for our fans but we can have a party when we get back.”
And he believed the Perpignan lineout, allied with Australian flyhalf Manny Edmonds’ territorial kicking, could prove critical.
“We’ve done quite well at the lineout this season and Manny’s been tremendous,” he said.
The 26-year-old Edmonds is in his first year with Perpignan having failed to convince then New South Wales Warratahs coach Bob Dwyer he was the man for the job in the Australian Super 12 side.
But Goutta warned his players to watch their behaviour and avoid giving English referee Clive White the opportunity to sack them.
“We’ve heard he communicates with the players, but being an Englishman he’ll play to the letter. Toulouse have probably got a better disciplinary record so we’ll have to watch our steps,” he said.
Goutta believes Perpignan can delay the quick ball Toulouse favour from the tackle and ruck.
“If we deny them ball and our front five gets on top, we’ll have a battle on our hands,” he said.
Goutta was also looking to take a bit of Ireland back home with him.
“If we win, I’ll cut out a piece of the Lansdowne Road turf and plant it in our Aime-Giral stadium,” he said.
But he was not the only one with that idea.
Former Ireland Test flanker Trevor Brennan believes his club Toulouse can match the fighting spirit of Perpignan.
“I want that bit of Lansdowne Road turf, too,” he said.
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