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'I have some great memories
in Europe' - Joe El-Abd
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RCN Toulon |
Toulon flanker, and FRC columnist, Joe El Abd
this week reflects on the differing challenges of playing in
Europe as France's Top 14 takes a two-week break for the
Heineken Cup and Challenge Cup.
This week sees a break
in the Top 14 for European competition. For a player I
always think there is something special about playing in
Europe and for me it’s going to be especially exciting to
experience it this season from a French perspective.
We are in the Challenge
Cup this year and face a group containing Saracens, Rovigo
and Castres. With both Saracens and Castres flying high at
the moment it looks like it is going to be a tough group to
be involved in. But while Sarries and Castres and going to
be really hard games it’s Rovigo that some of our new South
Africans are looking forward to playing against the most as
it will be their first trip to Italy.
New experiences
I keep telling them
that Rovigo is not Rome but they are excited nevertheless.
This is the fascination of European competition as it gives
players and supporters the chance to experience new cities,
stadiums and teams in a step up from domestic club
competition.
I have had some great
memories in Europe over the years in the Heineken Cup,
Challenge Cup and even in the European Shield. What is the
European Shield you may ask? The European Shield used to
take place in the early years of European competition and
involved all the teams that got knocked out in the first
round of the Challenge Cup (The Challenge Cup used to be a
knock-out competition until it got restructured in 2005).
Playing for Caerphilly RFC in 2002 - after having been
knocked out against Harlequins in the first round - we
embarked on a campaign that took us across Europe and into
the final. For an amateur club this was no mean feat and I
will always remember getting on the team bus an hour before
playing our semi-final against Petrarca Padova and sitting
next to the Caerphilly fans who had managed to make the
trip. Hearing about their trip to Venice was an interesting
pre-match team talk – one which I am sure will not be
repeated again in European rugby history! Sadly we lost to
Castres in the final but the memories will last forever.
The breakdowns will
be crucial
What will be
interesting this year in Europe will be how the different
nations’ referees are interpreting the laws of the game,
because no matter what anyone says rugby’s rules are always
open to interpretation. This is especially the case at the
ruck where the new ruling from the IRB now allows the first
defender at the tackle to compete for the ball even after a
ruck has been formed. The Magners League teams have been
traditionally very good in this area so it will be
interesting to see how the French sides fare this year. The
French referees have certainly been allowing competition at
the breakdown this season in the Top 14, which should stand
the French teams in good stead for next week’s encounters.
It is often said that whoever wins the breakdown wins the
match and this year promises to be no exception.
In the Heineken Cup
every group looks like the group of death. However, Pool 2
containing Clermont, Leicester, Ospreys and Viadana and Pool
4 consisting of Bath, Edinburgh, Stade Francais and Ulster
look the pick of the bunch. Looking at how the groups are
lining up I think that France will be disappointed if they
don’t get three teams into the quarterfinals with Toulouse,
Clermont and Stade Francais always fancied favourites. It’s
probably fair to say that French clubs have not fared quite
as well as their English counterparts in Europe over the
years but with all the investments over the summer it will
be interesting to see if this changes. I think it just
might.
A bientot
Previous columns:
28.09.09 -
'The three-part conundrum of winning
away in France'
22.09.09 -
'There's more to Jonny than just kicking'
14.09.09 -
Lesson number 1 - 'Pas de melée,
pas de victoire'
08.09.09 -
'The money's good, but so is the
weather, the rugby and the
crowds'
