Breaking French resistance

IT COULD hardly be the case that Perpignan have gone soft all of a sudden! The French champions are renowned as the hard men of their national championship and the team so tough to conquer at their own Stade Aime Giral that they have won 27 of their last 29 matches at the venue.

Their supporters are equally renowned as among the most fanatical, noisy and downright hostile in the rugby world.

And yet Perpignan felt the need this week to post a request on their website appealing to the fans to give Munster and the referee Dave Pearson a fair deal in tomorrow’s Heineken Cup match while getting 100% behind their own team.