By RK
January 11 2005

And so, off to France again to stock up on the old vin plonque and fromage odeureuse. RK dons stripy jumper and beret, puts on his best film noir expression and stares moodily at the keyboard before bringing us this preview of a vital game for both teams.

“I do not think 16 points will be enough. I was hoping for 20 at least.”

The words of Philippe Saint Andre hardly fill you with enthusiasm ahead of the second leg of this European Challenge Cup tie, yet almost in the same breath the Frenchman spelt out exactly how Sale can book their place in the semi-finals.

“We will need to be focused and play our best if we want to get through.”

So there you have it – Saint Andre doesn’t think a 34-18 first-leg victory over Agen at Edgeley Park will be enough, but he knows that the players he will send out can do it.

History is against Sale, though, as their last visit to Agen ended in a 44-9 defeat in October 2002, with only three Niki Little penalties to show for the 80-minute effort.

And Agen’s likely starting XV on Saturday will show a handful of changes from that which ran out at Edgeley Park, with Saint Andre admitting after the first leg that his counterpart had left some of his “big guns” out of his line-up.

One of those who should make the step up from bench to pitch is Fijian flyer Rupeni Caucaunibuca, a man who looked like he wanted to be anywhere but a rain-lashed Stockport on Friday night.

His first attempt to get ball in hand ended with it squirming out of his grasp and his second saw him brought to the ground by Jos Baxendell, who with the greatest of respect to him is certainly not ‘the fastest man in world rugby’.

On home turf, though, something tells me Caucaunibuca – one of the most exciting performers in the game today – may be a different proposition entirely.

Yet Agen’s home form has been pretty scratchy thus far – they crashed to four straight defeats in the French Top 16 after nilling Montpellier in mid-November and were far from impressive in edging out Viadana in the last round in Europe.

That, allied to being paired with the favourites (Sale are 2/1) saw the bookmakers push them out to 10/1 shots for the tournament in the lead-up to the first leg.

The bookies are rarely wrong, but there were plenty of signs at EP to suggest that there could be a good deal of nail-biting from the Sale fans travelling over to France for the return match.

The first try Agen scored came directly from a line-out, with the Frenchmen executing a perfect rolling maul to thunder through the Sale pack and over the line. Their pack is big and strong and will be looking to hit ours hard both in the tight and the loose.

Our forwards must front up, get in the Agen faces from the kick-off and give them some of their own medicine. If at full-time the battle has finished 50-50, or even 60-40 in Agen’s favour, we have to be confident of being within 16 points of them.

In the backs, Caucau is clearly the main danger yet he must not be targeted at the expense of others – Luc Lafforgue showed with his try at EP that he possesses plenty of ball skills and enough pace to take advantage of defensive gaps while, given the way he coped with the testing conditions in Stockport, Jerome Miquel must be backed to punish any indiscipline in the Sale ranks.

So can we do it? Will we do it?

Some will call it pessimism (I prefer the word realism) but I expect us to lose. But will we keep Agen within the 16 points we need to book our place in the semis?

The selection – in particular who PSA has to call on – will be crucial.

If Robert Todd can get over the injury that meant he missed the first leg he simply must be restored to the starting line-up while having Sebastien Bruno or Jonny Rodham at least on the bench would be a huge help.

Perhaps the key man, though, will be Sililo Martens.

While Richard Wigglesworth certainly didn’t disgrace himself in the first leg, Martens offers the sort of presence that could be vital in what is sure to be a physical game.

The presence of Martens, Todd and a ‘proper’ back-up hooker in our squad and I reckon come Saturday night we’ll be one step closer to some silverware.

Of course, without all three we could still do it.

It won’t be easy. It won’t be pretty. But we can do it.

Can’t we?