Biarritz bid to end the hunger
The French international has echoed his back-row colleague Magnus Lund in acknowledging Biarritz’s underdog status, and was happy to talk up Toulouse.
“They are a model of consistency,” he said. “In terms of squad, structure and results, Toulouse are certainly the number one club in France — and probably Europe as well.
“I compare them slightly to the All Blacks, especially when you see their three-quarter play and how fast they react on the counter-attack.
“On paper they are the favourites, and they are a team we don’t often beat, but I believe we can beat them.”
Harinordoquy admitted earlier this week that the 2006 final defeat to Munster has provided plenty of motivation for Biarritz to break their European duck, a theme he expanded upon yesterday.
“I am like most children — I always want what I don’t have. It’s so hard to get to a European Cup final and winning would be so dear to me.”
Current Toulouse captain Thierry Dusautoir was a Biarritz player back in 2006 — and was a 52nd-minute replacement in the final — before joining Toulouse that summer.
Dusautoir went on to lose a second final to Munster, this time in Toulouse colours in 2008, and is desperate to achieve the rare honour of captaining his club to European glory, in the same season he skippered France to a Six Nations Grand Slam.
Harinordoquy acknowledged that his international colleague is unlikely to be keen to go easy on his former club: “He knows us well enough to be wary and we won’t be expecting any favours from him during the 80 minutes,” he joked.
Another man to have been defeated in two European finals is Biarritz skipper Jerome Thion, and the 32-year-old believes his time is about to come.
The giant lock’s first taste of Heineken Cup final failure was in Dublin in 2003 when he was in the Perpignan side that lost to Toulouse. Then came the loss in Cardiff to Munster three years later.
“I know that Thierry Dusautoir has lost in two finals as well and that means one of us is going to be very happy on Saturday night while the other will be very, very disappointed,” said Thion.
“I was only 24 in 2003 when I lost with Perpignan against Toulouse. But now I have more experience I feel more confident going into my third final.
“I feel ready for the game, although I’m still very frustrated about losing to Munster in the 2006 final.”
He added: “For the last 10 years Toulouse has been the top team in Europe. To beat them we will have to give everything we’ve got.
“But the reason we are in the final is that we’ve all pulled together — winning this game is going to be like climbing Everest for us.”
Toulouse’s trump card, though, might lie in the form of coach Guy Noves, who has been in charge since 1993 and guided the club he joined 18 years earlier as a player to their sixth Heineken final.
“Guy’s CV speaks volumes — he is an exceptional coach,” said Toulouse back Maxime Médard.
“I think he is probably the most highly-motivated person around at the club, someone who wants to win trophies year in and year out.
“By that, I don’t mean that the players don’t to win trophies, but he puts a lot of himself into this group to help the players be the best.
“He always takes a new look at himself and his methods. He is a great source of inspiration.”
Noves has been preparing their forwards for what promises to be an uncompromising battle. In Toulouse’s Top 14 semi-final loss to Perpignan last weekend, their opponents scored all of their 21 points off scrum-related infringements.
Toulouse lock Romain Millo-Chluski has promised a volte-face when they face down a similarly big Biarritz forward unit. “(Against Perpigan) we didn’t show our real side. Our pack must remember that,” he said.
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