Mannix: Much more to come from Metro

As an influential former backs coach at Racing Metro, Munster’s Simon Mannix believes the Parisians can become European greats but may have to become national champions first.

Munster travel to the French capital on Saturday for a compelling showdown that opens the Heineken Cup campaign at the 80,000 capacity Stade de France and could provide a vivid backdrop for the province’s new head coach Rob Penney to experience his first taste of the continent’s premier club competition.

On the other hand Mannix, who left Racing last winter before joining the two-time champions this summer, knows exactly what to expect from a club fighting to lift the revered Bouclier de Brennus for the first time since 1990. Backed by real estate tycoon Jacky Lorenzetti, whose bankroll helped them regain Top 14 status with promotion from Pro D2, the French second division in 2009, Racing qualified for the Heineken Cup the following season.

Their two campaigns to date have ended in disappointment with failure to get out of their pool losing out to Leinster on their debut in 2010-’11, Edinburgh last season and winning just three games over the combined 12 group fixtures. While that may confirm the popular perception that for French clubs, Top 14 success is the be all and end all, Mannix believes there is much more to come from Racing Metro as a European force.

“From Racing, without a doubt. They’ve just got an abundance of talent that other clubs dream about having. That’s the way they’ve constructed their squad,” Mannix said.

“The Top 14, to a club that hasn’t won it since 1990, without doubt I can understand that. If that question was asked of me when I was coaching at Racing, ‘what would I have rather won, Heineken Cup or Top 14?’ I would have said the Top 14, because of the passion and everything else involved in that championship. It’s a pretty ruthless championship, week in, week out. We know the French ability to play at home is often superior to their ability on the road for some of the lesser teams but every week is an absolute dogfight. It’s pretty intense and the quality of rugby may not be the greatest, I think everybody in France is probably aware of that, you only have to look at the play-offs last year when there wasn’t a try scored. That’s pretty grim but it underlines the pressure and everything else going into these games. There’s just one thing, to win that shield.”

Racing’s start to this season has unravelled slightly of late with back-to-back defeats in the league, at newly-promoted Grenoble and then on Saturday at home in Colombes to Montpellier. That leaves the club in seventh place, 13 points behind Top 14 leaders Toulon, a club with similar resources and ambitions of trying to break into the French elite alongside Toulouse. The former Racing coach agreed winning the Brennus shield was a necessary stepping stone to European success.

“I think it’s evident already if you look at French teams who perform well [in Europe]: Biarritz, they’ve won the Top14 in recent years, Toulouse obviously; Clermont, who went close last year to being in the [Heineken Cup] final and you’d have thought if they’d made the final last season they would have won it,” Mannix said.

“They were within a centimetre of getting to the final so it’s very small margins but it really needs those teams to start projecting that vision into European rugby. I think domestic success probably helps that because if you look at Castres, who haven’t won it since the early ’90s, Montpellier, this is a crop of teams who haven’t broken through yet; Perpignan have been there or thereabouts and they’re not even in it this year.

“So I think it is a precursor for the French clubs in their development. Win the Top 14 then they can start thinking about Europe. Listen to the coaches at Toulouse and Clermont and they’re pretty clear their objectives are in the Heineken Cup because they recognise that that’s where true greatness is going to come from, lifting that trophy on a regular basis.”