Bradley braced for Beziers backlash
Connacht can expect to attract the biggest crowd of the season to the Sportsground on Saturday (2p.m.) for the second leg, but Bradley expects a backlash from the French.
"An eight points lead is nice going into the second game but we had to fight very hard to get that win. Beziers had chances to put us away and, while I was proud of our defence, we must be aware that they are a very dangerous attacking force."
But he paid tribute to his side for the way they defeated the leaders of the French Championship in their own backyard. "We are in the position we want to be. We have won the away leg, we are playing at home and we now know more about their strengths and weaknesses. They are not such an unknown quantity as they were when we travelled there.
"We were efficient in what we did, we kept the pressure on and got the penalties. It was a tough game and we are expecting more of the same on Saturday," said the Connacht coach.
Connacht have made two changes for the return leg. Conor O'Loughlin comes into the side at scrum-half, while Paul Neville returns from injury and will start at openside wing forward.
Meanwhile, Gloucester coach Dean Ryan is demanding back-to-back home wins against Bourgoin and Munster as his side celebrated a five pointer in the opening fixture away to Treviso last weekend.
Gloucester scored a crucial fourth try at the end of their game with the Italian side on Saturday and top the group by a point from Munster, who took four points from a win away to Bourgoin.
By any stretch of the imagination, Munster must still consider themselves to be in the driving seat after an away win over a French team rather than one from Italy, but Gloucester can take a huge leap forward by winning their next two home games and, therefore, put all the pressure back on the Irish side.
If Gloucester do manage to beat Bourgoin this weekend, the battle for pool 5 honours will surely come down to a two-horse race between themselves and Munster, and that battle could go to the wire for the second year in succession.
Remember last year when Munster had to beat the Cherry and Whites by 27 points to sneak through to the knock out stages, the miracle match?
Gloucester and Munster provided the only away wins of round one of the tournament and the great games they produced in last year's tournament has set the scene for more intense action and excitement this season.
"We know that if we are to qualify for the quarter-finals then we must beat Bourgoin, Munster and Benetton Treviso at home - as well as picking up whatever points we can from our away games," said Ryan.
"Bourgoin will be smarting from their one-point home defeat by Munster and, while I am not wary of any backlash from that result, I am wary about the quality of the Bourgoin side.
"They are powerful up front and have a good kicking game. Almost every French back is a potential danger and they have a couple of top quality guys.
"We have to make sure their scrum and line-out do not knock us out of sorts and be alert to any broken play opportunities that go their way."
Kingsholm is set to be packed to the rafters for this key clash, particularly because Bourgoin director of rugby Philippe Saint-Andre returns to the club he led for three years - and Ryan is banking on the special Kingsholm atmosphere to play its part.
"The Heineken Cup generates such tremendous enthusiasm and with a French team involved, I am sure Kingsholm will be really buzzing on Saturday," he said.
Saint-Andre, disappointed at losing an 18 month unbeaten home record to Munster, hopes to have some of his "walking wounded" back for the Kingsholm clash.
"I thought we performed well against Munster but it was a bridge too far with so many of our experienced players ruled out. Hopefully, we will have a bit more experience at our disposal this weekend," he said.
Ulster face buoyant Stade Francais at Ravenhill tomorrow night, with coach Alan Solomons declaring: "it is an uphill struggle for us now."
Defeat at Gwent Dragons in round one1 means the 1999 champions must make home advantage count against the Paris club.
"The teams we have to play are all of a very high quality - Stade Francais, Leicester Tigers and The Dragons," said Solomons.
"We still have to go away to Stade Francais and Leicester Tigers and those will be incredibly tough matches.
"Against Stade it will be a case of going back to basics because our set piece play against The Dragons was poor.
"But we still had opportunities to win it so you have to look at it like that - it just was not our day.
"Stade Francais are a star-studded side and it is going to be a massive step up for us physically we just cannot afford to play like we did against The Dragons."
CONNACHT v Beziers: M. McHugh; M. Mostyn, D. Yapp, T. Allnutt, C.McPhillips; E. Elwood, C. O¹Loughlin; D. McFarland, B. Jackman, A. Clarke; M. McCarthy, D. Browne; M. Swift, P. Neville, J. O¹Sullivan. Replacements: J. Fogarty, F. Boiroux, M. Lacey, T. Carter, M. Walls, D. Hewitt, T. Robinson.
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