This will be the fifth time the two sides have met in this competition in recent years, and this is beginning to become a regular pre Christmas fixture.

The travel section of Wednesday’s Daily Telegraph heralded “How about Paris in the winter?” with a sub headline “Nowhere is finer than the French capital at this time of year”, however the writer may not have envisaged a 1,000 plus supporters in their Quartered Shirts filling the platform at St Pancras on Friday. The streets of Twickenham will be empty this weekend, as the lure of le weekend en Paris, coupled with the colourful spectacle of two Capital teams brightening up a bleak mid winter afternoon, meet for the first leg of a match the winner of which is likely to have a better chance of progressing to the quarter finals of this competition.

After two pool games Quins find themselves heading the Pool table after two wins they have nine points after a blistering display sown at Stradey Park against Llanelli and a fine home win against Ulster at The Stoop. Stade Francais have also won both their games and like Quins gained a bonus point from Ulster, but Quins lie above the Parisian’s through scoring two more tries, despite the French side having a more favourable points difference +38 against +28 for Quins.

Harlequins will be targeting another win in this competition after their best ever start. History, however is not so kind as Quins have lost all four previous Euro meetings with the 2007 French champions, their Heineken Cup Pool matches last season and in the 2002/03 European Challenge Cup, while their opposition have a solid record of 17 straight home wins and been beaten just once in 32 tournament Pool matches in the French capital. As they say records are there to be broken!

The Stade Francais v Harlequins match will take centre stage in Europe on Saturday when they meet at the Stade de France in the first Heineken Cup match played at the French national stadium. Stade Francais have ruthlessly marketed this match, in order to swell the gate, and with the ticket sales of 70,000 their gamble appears to have paid off.  

Stade Francais, have arranged a significant amount of entertainment for the huge crowd ahead of the big kick-off and there are cries of “Oh what a Circus” as the  glitz and glitter of showmanship meets professional sport.

In an interview ahead of this week’s game Dean Richards said “This match is certainly going to be a spectacle. I’m not sure I’ve ever been involved in something quite like this, with can-can dancers and sword fighting, and while it’s going to be a great day there’s no point in getting caught up in the occasion.” He rightly added “The event for us has to be what happens on the field, not off the field, and that’s the most important thing. It’s hard enough worrying about what’s going to be happening on the field than having to worry about everything else and we will prepare in the best possible way. I don’t think it will be intimidating for our young guys to go and play in Stade de France, although I think what they will find is that it will be a different Stade de France. 

“It won’t be like an international match, where the atmosphere is quite different to the Heineken Cup games we have played in Twickenham, and I don’t think they will freeze on the day. They have enough inside them to be able to enjoy and take in what’s going on around them but to remember that the game’s the thing. We are always looking at teams in France so from that point of view we have seen a few Stade Français games and know what they are about. They are very strong across the board so it’s difficult to say that they have weaknesses here or there and players like Beauxis and Hernandez are real stars and show the quality of the team”.  Ironically Stade Francais have reported that both quality players are injured and will miss the match, however on paper Stade Francais have an excellent side, and despite numerous injury problems last year they did not have much difficulty dispatching Harlequins who were going through a poor run of results. This year could well be different. 

The unwritten rules of this competition state that if you are to get through the Pool stages you can only really afford to drop one game so, and with both Harlequins and Stade Français  coming into this double-header unbeaten, and the stakes are very high, both sides are  determined to do well.  Richards added “In effect this is a winner-takes all scenario. Whatever happens here will have a massive impact on the return match and where we both go on to in the Pool.”

Harlequins certainly have enjoyed a successful campaign in the Heineken Cup and certainly more successful than last Season. Despite some indifferent form in recent weeks their confidence will be high after a fine home win, coming from behind to beat Premiership leaders, Bath last weekend, in what was probably the best preparation the team could have ahead of this weekend match. Stade Francais also won, away, last weekend to maintain their second place in the French league. There is still plenty to build on, but they do have the potential to cause a few upsets along the way. With Nick Evans back from injury and the returning International Players Quins have a strong squad from which to pick their starting XV , At the start of this year’s competition Mick Cleary reported in the Telegraph “Harlequins are dangerous outsiders” and we have the ability to prove him right.

For all those travelling have a great weekend, enjoy Paris and bring back that converted away win!

Allez les Quins!

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