Smith vows to fight fire with fire against physical Perpignan

LONDON IRISH boss Brian Smith vowed his men will fight fire with fire in today’s Heineken Cup quarter-final against fierce and physical rivals Perpignan.

The Exiles have bitter memories of their pool defeat to the Catalans at the Stade Aime Giral in December, when England prop Perry Freshwater shattered Kieron Roche’s cheekbone with a swinging elbow.

Perpignan play in the way of old-school French teams and it has not gone unnoticed in the London Irish camp how their recent victory over Top 14 champions Stade Francais was built on a brutally physical approach up front. The game erupted into mass brawls early on and despite Stade boasting the creative talents of Juan Martin Hernandez, David Skrela and Ignacio Corleto they never got a foothold in the game.