Le Crunch

By Chris Chaplin
January 28 2004

I make no apologies for the clichéd title of this preview because Friday’s match against Stade Francais really is the crunch for Tigers for a number of reasons, not least progress into the knock out stages of the European cup.

Aside from this obvious benefit of a win against the French champions I believe it will also decide not only whether Tigers have their worst season since rugby went professional but also have much to do with the future direction of the club.

Thanks to Sky I was able to watch both Pool One matches at the weekend without the need to leave my armchair. Sadly that did mean that I had to endure Barnes and his sycophantic sidekick with the endless bias against Tigers.

The match at Stade Jean Bouin was a peculiar affair played out in front of a small crowd.

It seemed that in spite of a stuttering and almost disinterested performance from the home team they were never actually going to lose and indeed when they upped the pace in the second half they looked the better side by far with Ulster unable to get hold of the ball for long periods.

I think though that the French team, having seen Tigers destroy the Irishmen at Welford Road a week earlier, thought that their task would be a lot easier and smoother than was to prove to be the case.

Ulster clearly went to Paris having spent a lot of time working on the defence that leaked so many tries the previous week and had a game-plan of containing the all star French side in the hope of a bit of luck coming their way, which it very nearly did when David Humphreys charged down a half hearted clearance kick from Stade centre Brian Liebenberg and then out ran Christophe Dominici to score under the posts, a score which he duly converted and that, aside from a penalty soon after, was really it for the brave lads from Belfast.

I bet that coach Solomons and skipper Andy Ward, who again went to the Sin Bin for persistent infringement, are rueing their side’s poor defensive display against Tigers the previous weekend for had they defended with such organisation and enthusiasm at Welford Road then the result would have been closer.

Although the Irishmen frustrated Stade they did not in truth look much like scoring any tries and if they wanted to get under the skins of the Frenchmen they certainly succeeded with the Stade attacking strategy seemingly limited to pushing the superb Brian Liebenberg though the middle on the crash ball, which although soon a clearly bankrupt tactic was one with which they persisted until into the second half when they began to spin the ball wide and looked more like the dangerous Stade that we are used to seeing.

The Stade try, somewhat predictably given the nature of the game, came from the pack who took a penalty to the 5 metre line and then executed a sublime rolling maul enabling prop Sylvain Marconnet to rumble over to claim the score.

The Stade pack had the upper hand pretty much throughout and while it seemed at times that Peter deVilliers was getting the worst of his contest with Robbie Kempson it seemed to me that Kempson was endlessly slipping his binding but like all good props he managed to get away with it until referee White finally cottoned on, by which time it was well into the second half.

It would be hard not to be impressed with the Stade front row that played against Ulster with ex Dax player hooker Benoit August looking dangerous in the loose and deVilliers still very much a force to be reckoned with.

At lock, with French international David Auradou sidelined through injury, back-rower and France A player Patrick Tabacco shared the duties with youngster Arnaud Marchois. Frankly they never looked in the slightest difficulty in spite of Ulster recalling the experienced Longwell to the side and lineout on the Stade ball was really reduced merely to a method of restarting the game.

The tight five looked menacing all afternoon and their mauling was quite simply superb and this together with their mobility will be major threats to Tigers next Friday.

Similarly the back-row looked a classy unit with Remy Martin getting my attention all afternoon. Very quick to the ground for a lad of almost 6’6” and of course at that height he presents real options in the line out as well. In fact he was close to my man of the match on Saturday and playing as he does, like a centre, in the loose he’ll give our backs something to think about if service from the Tigers’ half backs is not spot on.

French international Patrick Rabadan is another tall lad weighing in at 94 kilos he also sometime plays at centre and this demonstrates the speed and mobility of the trio which on Saturday was completed by the somewhat more robust skills of veteran Christophe Moni. Now whether this back-row will be retained at the continuing expense of Mauro Bergamasco is hard to say but if he is included the Italian international flanker cum winger will bring even more pace to an already speedy trio.

Coach Nick Mallett has options in the scrum and whatever options he uses the Stade eight looks powerful in the tight and exceptionally mobile in the loose. Mallett’s problems, if he has any, are behind the scrum.

Young Gregory Mahe at scrum half is workmanlike enough and does not have the supposed communication problems with Dominguez that Pichot is alleged to have. I am not at all sure that I believe a word of these mind games from Mallett and given the lack of spark from Mahe against a robust, but predictable, Ulster defensive pattern the return of Pichot is needed to bring his inventive and maverick qualities to an otherwise somewhat stolid half back set up.

Diego Dominguez really didn’t seem like he wanted to be at Stade Jean Bouin on Saturday afternoon. He’s a killer kicker of course and we can be sure that any indiscretion by the home side inside Tigers’ half of the field on Friday will be severely punished but he’ll need to be much more involved and interested so as to get his backs moving than he was against Ulster. I watched him run on Saturday and I’ve a feeling that he’s not 100% fit. I know that he’s never been one to look for contact but even so he treated the ball like a hot potato against the stern Irishmen. If Stade have another front line kicker I’d not be at all surprised to see the superb and more robust David Skrela preferred.

I’ve already mentioned Brian Liebenberg who in spite of his try conceding kick was my man of the match for Stade. The big South African centre worked tirelessly battering away at the Ulster midfield but I’ve seen this chap running on to ball and then he’s lethal. Outside of Liebenberg was enfant terrible Argentinian international Juan Hernandez. Because of the nature of the game we saw little of him really as play stopped at #12 for the most part but against Tigers I half expect to see the tougher and more experienced veteran Franck Comba make an appearance. With two tries from his 13 appearances for France he’s still a good finisher and very strong in defence. Maybe Stephane Glas will feature as well. Mallet is really spoilt for choice in the centre not a luxury that Tigers have these days.

Christophe Dominici, he of the Robinson trip, was on one wing but again did not play too much of a part in proceedings until late on and when charged with running down David Humphreys to prevent a try failed to catch the 32 year old Irishman. In fact I thought Dominici looked a bit leaden footed for him and a muddy Welford Road will not be his cup of café at all.

Thomas Lombard took the other wing spot and again it was hard to judge how the twelve time capped French international acquitted himself as he saw so little ball.

I was however impressed with the full-back another Argentinean international one Ignacio Corleto. The long haired Corleto looked safe under the high ball, has a tremendous kick and is a fearsome strike runner. The fact that he is keeping Portuguese born French international Artur Gomes out says something about him.

Star studded throughout then this Stade side makes Tigers look distinctly homespun by comparison and yet even with all this talent both on the field and in reserve they could not breakdown the resolute Ulster defence save for one rolling maul generated try.

I think without doubt the whole Stade set up underestimated the Ulstermen which as we know you do at your peril but really the French side looked to be cruising for much of the time knowing that a try bonus was not essential and that always provided the Tigers prevailed over Dragons a simple win would be enough to set up a winner takes all contest six days later. Had things turned out differently at Rodney Parade and Tigers come home empty handed then they would have needed a five point win to go through.

I don’t think that the Parisian team will be travelling to Welford Road in the same frame of mind though and will want to prove that what Tigers achieved in 2001 by beating them in their own back yard they can do now.

Tigers meanwhile rewarded their long-suffering supporters with an away victory at Rodney Parade proving that statistics are just that.

More injury problems saw more changes and the performance of the back division was all the more creditable because the pack did not have it all their own way due in no small part to the ever incompetent Jutge refereeing the front row using the now notorious Andre Watson method.

Once again I thought that Darren Morris had a cracking game with his pass to put Jaco away for his opening try perfectly timed and weighted. Rowntree was as usual solid as the rock of Gibraltar and I don’t think he even lost his contact lens or burst his ear this week! Dorian was spot on with his lineout work and in the loose but they did seem under a bit of pressure in the scrum from time to time which must be of some concern especially if the enormous Uruguay prop Pablo Lemoine is back in the Stade line-up to join Rowntree’s nemesis, Peter deVilliers.

Johnno was again at his very best and even produced some lovely comedic moments when forgetting his lowly position as a mere player these days and remonstrated with Joel Jutge over yet another incomprehensible decision, incomprehensible to the Big Man at least. I thought that Louis Deacon also had a first class match and Ben Kay should not consider himself a shoo in as Johnno’s partner with the youngster playing like he did on Saturday.

A word of caution here though, the Stade lineout will be very different proposition to Gough and Sidoli so Ben’s experience could be very welcome I am sure, assuming he’s fit of course.

Corry’s reappearance was a welcome fillip and let us hope he starts having got over his recurring injury, as he hopefully will. Otherwise I guess it could again be Will Johnson and Backy with Henry to take on the very classy Stade back-row.

Neil Back produced his usual mysterious popping up everywhere act against Dragons, linking, tackling, defending and, having seemingly delegated the rallying of the troops to his long time colleague Mr Johnson senior, he looked happier. Well with Johnno, according to some stats I read at the weekend, having now played more than any other player at 308 times since the game went professional, taking part in around 6500 scrums, 10000 line outs and 42000 rucks and mauls he should be getting the hang of it by now!!!

Harry Ellis had another fine game. The lad must have worked tremendously hard during his mid season “holiday” as his technique has completely changed. He’s still as sparky as ever, with an eye for the main chance, but his feet are now an exemplar for scrum halves on how to do it and his pass has dropped in it’s trajectory and speeded up in the process, great stuff and all credit to him.

Jaco, returning to his original position of fly-half, where he started his career with the Northern Bulls, has been top class over the past two weeks. However with Vesty injured and Pez our only front line kicker I expect to see him back if he’s fit, which since he was on the bench at Rodney Parade I assume he pretty much is. Jaco was a sometime kicker at Northern Bulls so he may be able to stay at 10 and take on the kicking but in my view Pez’s expertise with the boot will be required in what promises to be a close game.

If Deano plays the young Italy international at fly-half he is sure to be a marked man though and attract considerable attention from the fast Stade back-row, so Harry will need to keep up the good work and make sure his service remains spot on otherwise Ramiro could have a tough evening but if the service is there then I think Pez would produce the goods.

The other option may be to use Pez on the wing. He’s nippy enough and that would allow Jaco to continue his partnership with Harry with perhaps Myring at #15.

All the plaudits have gone to Jaco and rightly so but Gelderbloom and Lloyd both enjoyed great performances. Now it’s true that the Dragon’s midfield decided that they’d abandon tackling for the evening but even taking this into account Gelderbloom’s service and thoughtful play put Leon into acres of space so that he could again demonstrate what a good powerful player and finisher he is. Another word of caution here though, Dragon’s pairing of Luscombe and Winn, thereby excluding Andy Marinos for some obscure reason, who looked dangerous when he eventually came on in the final quarter, will be a very different proposition to Liebenberg, Comba, Glas, Hernandez or any of the other options Stade may deploy against Tigers.

With Gibson still apparently sidelined and Ollie rated as only “possible” either or both Gelderbloom and Lloyd may have to keep up the good work.

It was good to see Steve Booth back, although he was lucky to get off Scot free from his high tackle on Montgomery when he had to jump in the air to administer his swinging arm, and he will give the French something to think about if he staves off any challenge from the recovering Healey and Baxter.

Also nice to see Fred back but he has lost some pace and his missed tackles remain a worry to me.

Vesty had an excellent game at full-back until he hobbled off. However my doubts over his kicking resurfaced with the points that he missed all being very kickable by a front line kicker. As it transpired it did not matter this time but in a close game, as that against Stade will probably be, such misses could prove crucial. However as mentioned earlier with his being absent through injury it seems that somehow Pez needs to be accommodated in the line-up.

With eighteen players currently listed as injured and/or doubtful the back division will clearly be under pressure from the high class and largely intact Stade firmament of stars.

It’s likely that the Tigers’ pack will get sufficient quality ball for Ellis to have something to work with and if Jaco has to return to 15 then it will be time for Pez to stand up and be counted with quality service giving him no excuse for failure.

It was always going to be tough but now it’s even tougher. There’ll be a full house howling Tigers on which may get under the French side’s skin and I think that if Tigers keep it tight and frustrate Stade with the same kind of obdurate defence as did Ulster and with French sides known not to always travel well then Tigers could just sneak it, but we’ll need to kick all our points, so it could be the day for Ramiro Pez to break the hearts of the French side and become a Tigers’ folk hero as they once again go into the HEC quarter finals which will give plenty of time to get the squad up to strength for what will probably be an away fixture.

A close win for Tigers then and something for the supporters to look forward to as the season enters its final phase.