Sharks revel in underdogs role

Sale coach Kingsley Jones is delighted the Sharks travel to San Sebastian as underdogs, and remains confident they can storm Biarritz’s Basque stronghold.

A nine-point lead at the top of the Guinness Premiership may make Sale the strongest team in England but they are not expected to overcome Biarritz in tomorrow’s Heineken Cup quarter-final.

The French giants have reached the semis for the last two years and field several France internationals, including captain Thomas Lievremont, centre Damien Traille and scrum-half Dimitri Yachvili.

Sale are missing the injured Andrew Sheridan and suspended Sebastien Chabal and it would take a huge upset for Biarritz to crash out on home soil.

“Biarritz will be favourites in virtually everyone’s eyes and that suits us just fine,” said Jones.

“We have been frequently tagged as the favourites in other matches this season but, on this particular occasion, it will be a case of everything to gain and nothing to lose.

“You only look at the sides who are not in the quarter-finals, teams like Wasps and Stade Francais, to see how far we have come.”

Biarritz have switched the match to the Estadio Anoeta in San Sebastian, the 32,000-capacity home of Spanish football team Real Sociedad.

With only 2,000 Sale fans expected to make the journey, the Sharks are guaranteed a hostile reception at the ground where Munster were beaten 19-10 last season.

But Jones said: “I’m very happy the match is being played in San Sebastian.

“Although Biarritz did play there last year against Munster in the quarters, this will be only the second time for them and tha makes it much more of a neutral venue.

“It is a fantastic opportunity to be playing there and the boys are confident they can go there and cause a surprise.”

Sale, competing in the knockout stages for the first time, are rookies compared to Biarritz’s strong Heineken Cup pedigree but will have learnt a valuable lesson from January’s 31-9 defeat by Munster.

The Sharks travelled to Thomond Park with a big reputation only to be comprehensively dismantled by the rampant Irish province, who did enough to book a home quarter-final against Perpignan.

Jones believes the exposure to Munster’s intimidating home crowd will have given them a valuable insight into what it will take to upset Biarritz in their own back yard.

“Quite a few of the boys have international experience but we haven’t got a great deal of Heineken Cup experience and that showed in the away game against Munster,” said Jones.

“They simply had to win to qualify for the quarter-finals while we had already qualified and they showed us up in a big way.

“We were certainly not planning on losing the match, and with it potential home advantage in the quarter-finals, but hopefully the experiences of Thomond Park will stand us in good stead in San Sebastian.

“If we can win, then we will be home in the semi-finals and playing at the superb City of Manchester Stadium.”

Lievremont hopes tomorrow will be another memorable day for the Basque region.

“It is massively important for us to be playing this game at Anoeta,” said the number eight.

“Last year we knew we were participating in an historical event and that the game was very important for Biarritz and the Basque people.

“But we had no idea of how big and fantastic an event it was going to be. The atmosphere was magnificent and we are really looking forward to experiencing that again.”