Party of pirates fear Volley for jolly Rog
So ran the headline on the front of local newspaper La Dépêche yesterday.
Make no mistake about it, Castres are up for it. The semi-final defeat to Munster in Beziers two years ago still rankles and revenge is the overriding theme in any conversation with the populace of this rugby-mad town. There are different rumours circulating about events at the post-match reception for the Ireland-Argentina game last week.
Stories about peas being flicked at Munster players; Ireland and Munster out-half Ronan O’Gara being challenged to a fight in the car-park; and a frantic SOS being sent out to leviathan prop John Hayes when it looked as if things were about to kick off.
Argentinean hooker and Castres captain Mario Ledesma has wound up his team-mates to a huge degree ahead of tonight’s Heineken Cup clash.
Castres yesterday had the air of Tombstone in the build-up to the showdown at the OK Corral. Everyone wanted to talk about the match, and while friendly and courteous, the locals nonetheless stressed Munster and their fans can expect a hot reception.
Opting for the fans’ experience over the press box alternative, I had travelled over with a stag party from Cobh Pirates RFC (come in Colm McCoitir your time is up) and, due to an early flight from London to Carcassonne, we spent Wednesday night at the Radisson Hotel in Stansted Airport, the strangest I have ever over-nighted in.
Aimed at the well-to-do travelling businessman, the hotel had a posh Mountjoy look and was swanky in the extreme. The residents’ bar only served pricey wine and what I call ‘trendy’ food. In the centre of the bar was a column that stretched to the ceiling and when we ordered our bottles of Chivaz (no Blue Nun here) a young girl in a fetching lycra outfit suddenly shot up the column on wires and performed a succession of gymnastic manoeuvres before retrieving our order.
It did not feel like a Munster away trip. Having been outspoken in the past about the detrimental effects the corporate fan has had on the ‘Munster experience’, it felt strange to be wearing a Munster jersey while eating bruschetta and watching a young wan cavort for our vino.
Thankfully, Castres brought us back down to earth. The downside of not doing the press thing is you take your chances with accommodation. When we checked into Hotel Goya in the centre of the town, I asked Neilo, the charming owner, whether there was internet access in the rooms. Neilo collapsed into Gallic guffaws and, when I saw the room, I realised why.
No jacks, no phone, no TV, just the bed and a flickering lightbulb. I felt like Terry Waite.
But the town had its compensations.
Castres is easy on the eye.
Factor in the cheap wine, food, the fact that nightclubs are open until five, that you can buy a four-bedroomed detached house for €100,000 and the fact that you can smoke in the pub without feeling like a criminal, and you wonder what we’re doing living in Ireland.
I stopped a man to ask for directions to an internet café and he turned out to be Castres director of rugby Christian Gajan, out for a walk with his missus.
Was he nervous about the game?
“It will be difficult, Munster have a settled team, experienced and they know how to win in France, but we’re confident, we have a game plan.”
Asked to expand, Gajan replied: “Ronan O’Gara is a superb player but by the end of the match, he will know Paul Volley very well. It will be a tremendous match, it is our turn to win I think.”
O’Gara knows Volley from the Lansdowne Road semi-final against Wasps last spring and if Castres’ off-season signing can nullify the influence of Munster’s playmaker, it will go a long way to ensuring a home victory.
This will be an explosive encounter, with only a few points between the teams, and one hopes Ledesma’s pea-shooting antics will backfire as South African coach Jake White’s arrogance did a few weeks ago.
Gajan and his wife invited our party to join them after the game at the restaurant run by Castres Argentinean prop Mauricio Reggiardo, who misses tonight’s game with a damaged retina. I suppose we’ll have to take them up on the offer, although whether it still stands if Castres lose is another matter.
Munster abroad, never a dull moment.
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