Heineken Cup preview: Time to get serious as Stade Toulousain travel to take on Cardiff

10 April 2009

Cardiff Blues v Stade Toulousain (Millennium Stadium, 11/04/09, 16.30)

The excitement has been building for weeks now, but finally the Heineken Cup quarter-finals are nearly upon us – and with them France’s sole hope for European glory this season as three-times champions Stade Toulousain travel to take on the Cardiff Blues.

Intriguingly the tie is a re-run of last year’s quarter-final – when Stade crushed Cardiff 41-17 en route to yet another final – and there has been much talk or revenge in the build-up.

The fact Cardiff qualified this year as the competition’s top seeds, whereas Toulouse scraped in as eighth seeds, has also added to the feeling that momentum may have swapped sides in the intervening 12 months.

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It is, however, a re-match which Cardiff’s Kiwi captain Paul Tito would have happily avoided.

“It was a good effort by us last year to get out of our pool and make the last eight, but we knew we had to kick on this season, and I think we have done that,” he said.

“We stepped it up this time in the tournament and ended as the number one qualifier for the quarterfinals – only to find we are now up against the best team in the competition,” he lamented.

Blues coach Dai Young described the match as “a massive challenge” but called on his players to go one better than last year.

“We must have the determination and self-belief to go further. It is a big statement, getting to the quarter-finals in successive seasons, but Toulouse represents another step up the ladder,” he added.

The beauty of having reached this stage of the competition is that knockout matches leave no room for sentiment, history or past form. There is no second chance, no reverse fixture to make amends. It is quite simply down to which team wins on the day.

Listen to Toulouse’s wise old coach Guy Noves and he would have you believe that Cardiff start as outstanding favourites, with the Rouge et Noirs bringing an injury-laden squad battling the odds to overcome one of the current powerhouses of European rugby.

But Toulouse have pedigree like no other when it comes to the Heineken Cup, having won it three times (in 1995/6, 2002/3 and 2004/5) and been runners-up on two more occasions  (in 2003/4 and 2007/8). Their last match - against Bath - was their 100th in the competition.

That sort of background gives players belief and confidence – not that Top 14’s current leaders and defending champions should need much of that after successive league wins against Stade Francais (15-11) and Brive (42-10).

It is true that they have injury concerns, but even those have been alleviated of late and could have been far worse. Former All Black scrum-half Byron Kelleher may be short of match time but he is, at least, back. His presence alone was enough to lift the side during last weekend’s drubbing of Brive and Kelleher remains a pivotal player in Noves’ grand scheme.

And with a back-up as talented as Frederic Michalak he also has the sort of classy cover that most coaches can only dream of.

The fly-half position presents a similar ‘problem’, with French internationals David Skrela and Jean-Baptiste Elissalde both lacking fitness after lengthy lay-offs. Skrela returned last week (and impressively so) but was again in doubt throughout the week after picking up a rib injury, while Elissalde remains untried in terms of match fitness and was excluded from the travelling squad.

Skrela was eventually cleared to play on Thursday morning after coming through a mid-week contact session – “David is clearly okay,” said Noves – but Michalak has been preferred as the starting 10. Skrela is on the bench though, with Michalak’s versatility meaning Noves has the option to move him to scrum-half should Kelleher not complete the match. Up front the absence of Benoit Lecouls is overcome by the return of Italian international Perugini, but Jean-Baptiste Poux and Romain Millo-Chluski are  both unavailable due to injury. The talented Clement Poitrenaud, however, has been given the all clear as Toulouse prepares to unleash its star-studded back line.

Half-back concerns aside, Stade are once more looking like the formidable red and black machine of recent years, typically timing their most impressive form for the key stage of the season.

They may have lost at home to Glasgow in the pool stages but the Millennium Stadium presents the perfect stage for redemption – it was also here that they lost last year’s final 16-13 to Munster.

Noves may be frustrated by having lost half his squad recently to international duties but he has used his experience and tactical acumen to try and ensure the core of his team is in peak condition for the business end of the season.

His recent resting of Thierry Dusautoir was specifically with this match in mind, despite two tough league matches which ensured no complacency – a likely factor in their earlier Glasgow reverse.

Last year’s final defeat against Munster still burns deep on the Toulousain psyche, even for flying winger Vincent Clerc, who missed the game due to injury.

“I am really eager to take part in the quarter-final against Cardiff, that’s the positive thing about being out – you realise how much you miss playing,” he said.

Clerc, who will become the tournament’s joint top try-scorer if he touches down on Saturday, said the club’s passion for success remains undiminished.

“We never cease to motivate ourselves; it’s the culture of our club. There has always been that desire to do well, whether it is for the club or the city of Toulouse,” he explained.

Clerc’s influence could be crucial on Saturday, but undoubtedly one of the key battles will be a couple of places inside him with the match-up between Yannick Jauzion and Jamie Roberts.

The highly experienced Jauzion – a veteran of four finals – is the fulcrum of Toulouse’s backs and Roberts knows that he must keep the 30-year-old contained to prevent the others’ incursions.

“A lot of their team thrive off what he does and I’ve got a huge job nullifying his threat. Toulouse have a formidable back-line and the back three are very dangerous runners. But they all feed off Jauzion. He is not known as the offload king for nothing,” admitted Roberts.

The highly anticipated showdown will also be a special game for one particular Cardiff player, with Gareth Thomas lining up against his former Toulouse teammates.

The veteran international spent three years at Stade Toulousain, a time he admitted had “opened my eyes and changed my life”. The 33-year-old relished his stay at the French giants, and also picked up a Heineken Cup winners medal with them in 2005.

“Rugby is more than just a game in Toulouse, it’s a passion and a way of life. The team was a massive part of the city. People expected a certain type of rugby, but also victory,” he said.

“The rugby was exciting and I loved the freedom we were given to express ourselves on the field. But we all understood everyone in France wanted to beat Toulouse. It made me 10-times a better player,” he explained.

Now, he is one of that external majority hell-bent on bringing down the Toulouse colours, a challenge that will be met head on when the two teams take to the Millennium Stadium shortly before 4.30pm on Saturday.

Stade Toulousain squad: Human, Perugini, Montes, Servat, Vernet-Basualdo, Albacete, Pelous, Lamboley, Dusautoir, Sowerby, Bouilhou, Nyanga, Maka, Kelleher, Michalak, Skrela, Jauzion, Fritz, Kunavore, Clerc, Heymans, Poitrenaud, Médard, Ahotaeiloa.

Other quarter-finals:
Leicester Tigers v Bath Rugby (11/4/09, 19.00)
Munster v Ospreys (12/4/09, 14.00)
Harlequins v Leinster (12/4/09, 16.30)

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