By Barfly
October 19 2006

The European adventure begins as Saints travel south to Biarritz in Round One of the Heineken Cup. Barfly looks ahead...

Biarritz Olympique vs Northampton Saints

Heineken Cup 2006/7 - Round One

Sunday, 22nd October 2006

Parc des Sports Aquiléra, Biarritz - 4pm

Je suis departier dans une aero…

 

This weekend the Wanderers head to France to take on the might of Biarritz Olympique. I jest a little, and this may be a little harsh on those who will be entrusted with the Green, Gold and Black on Sunday, but a good proportion of the starting line-up began their season in the Guinness ‘A’ League.

 

Let’s begin by seeing who’s out for definite – Reihana, Clarke, Spencer and Thompson. Then let’s continue with the doubtfuls – Cohen, Lamont, Short, Lord. Those are the eight excuses out of the way nice and early, but this is why you have a big squad these days isn’t it?

 

Normally your weekend preview will contain 44 vital elements – the players. But because the editors are heading out to south-western France for a bit of sun and the odd glass of red wine I’ve had to pull my finger out to get this done nice and early.

 

So to begin with I’ll have a stab at who I think will be starting for Saints in the opening round of our return to the Heineken Cup.

 

Kydd; Howard, Wyles, Quinlan, Diggin; Myring, Robinson; Smith, Hartley, Barnard, Damien Browne, Gerard, Tupai, Fox, Daniel Browne.

 

Not bad if you were taking on Old Francais 2nds, but Biarritz is another thing altogether. But it does have some upsides.

 

For one thing this XV will take to the field with nothing to lose – and a team with nothing to lose is always the most dangerous. In addition, the pack is still strong and will be as competitive as an English pack can be in that neck of the woods. Furthermore, although he didn’t do anything out of the ordinary against Leicester, Myring played well last weekend, as did Howard. And Digger will never let the side down.

 

Finally, and most importantly, we will be taking the spurut with us to France. The performance against Leicester was one of the best of the season in terms of heart and consideration of what had gone in the couple of weeks before. Like the Sale away trip at the start of the Premiership season the majority of those present left with a jaunty step and hope restored.

 

So what of our opponents?

 

Biarritz Olympique (BO) currently lie fourth in the Top 14. Mind you, that’s not exactly saying much as they’ve only won once on the road at Brive, who are, by all accounts, rubbish. The bad away record includes a defeat at Stade Francais last weekend in front of 80,000 at the Stade de France. The important stat however is that they’re unbeaten at home so far, which is another reason as to why Saints should head out there and try a few things out.

 

Plenty of the readers of my ramblings so far are far more familiar with the French game, so I won’t try and be clever and describe their patterns of play. Suffice to say, if BO play like they did against Sale and Bath last season, their backs will run one fantastic try-scoring move then stand around for the rest of the day drinking coffee, smoking far too much and discussing the relative philosophical merits of the proposed new scrummaging laws.

 

Mind you, if we revert to October type then our backs will be joining them, only beating them to the nice spots in the café because the pack won’t give them the ball in the first place.

 

This is the best time to be playing BO. French clubs rarely start the Heineken Cup well, as witnessed by BO’s defeat at Vicarage Road last season, and Adams Park the season before. And we might be able to play a disciplined enough game to get into position and grab a few penalties…hang on, who am I kidding?

 

Seriously though, when the Heineken groups and fixtures were announced we all breathed a huge sigh of relief. Because this is our hardest game, and even if we lose, qualification will still be in our own hands.

 

I’ll finish with a brief ditty about what I think the Heineken Cup means to Northampton Rugby Football Club.

 

In some respects it means everything – as one of the biggest English clubs it is where we should be each season, more so because we won the thing not so long ago. But in some respects it is the gloss, the lemon-zest icing on the soft carrot cake. After last season we should appreciate everything the Cup gives to us – the exposure to top-class rugby, decent highlights (even if they clash with the NFL) and the opportunity to have a second visit to Italy in a couple of months.

 

But I think, if we can come away from BO with a bonus-point, our season’s Heineken Cup campaign might not stink so much after all.