By Worried of Whitton
January 7 2005

The domestic season is once more put on hold as we return to the Heineken Cup competition. Round 5 see Harlequins cross “La Manche” and head for the sunnier and warmer climes in the South of France, as we meet Castres Olympique at the Stade Pierre Antoine, kick off 15.00 local time on Sat Jan 8th. Whilst some may have written this game off as meaningless as Harlequins have already been eliminated from the competition as a result of earlier matches it is, however, far from that as its’ result, and that of the other tie in this round, will have a bearing on who will qualify for the quarter Finals of the Heineken Competition.

Eighteen of the original twenty four teams still have a chance of qualification for the quarter finals. Harlequins are, however, one of the ignominious band of six who have already fallen by the wayside, and it is some what embarrassing to be part of this group. Failure and frustration aside, it is pleasing to report that there will be a stalwart band of supporters cheering for the Quartered shirts in Castres on Saturday afternoon, maintaining the spirit of the entente cordial. The weather forecast is for a fine and sunny weekend, with temperatures plummeting below zero at night, but I m sure the travelling support will warm things up, après match!

The French teams have so far performed well in this years competition with France currently leading three of the Pools, with Castres and Perpignan sitting in second place in their respective pools. Castres are just three points behind Munster, still have a chance of qualifying and will be playing hard to win at home, to keep their Cup hopes alive. Quins role is to stop them, to play for pride, and to reverse that loosing streak. I‘m sure that they will they be using this match, and against Munster the following week as preparation for their next Domestic match away at Leicester. Ironically, three years ago in this same competition, both Castres and Munster and qualified for the quarter finals from the same pool, which as we know also included Harlequins. Indeed both teams were also drawn against each other in the 2002 semi final which Munster won.

Castres to date have had an encouraging season, they have won their last six home Heineken Cup ties, including decisive victories over both Munster and the Ospreys this season In addition they currently lie in fourth place in the Championnat de France with 47 points, with only a slip up against Narbonne preventing them from sharing the top honours at the end of 2004. They currently sit behind three teams who share 51 points, Stade Francais, and Toulouse who are very likely to win their respective Heineken Pools and Bourgoin, who appeared to have surrendered their European Cup chances early, to concentrate on the French League. Castres have targeted to finish in the top six in France this year.

Castres have plenty to be satisfied with so far this season and I think if my interpretation of an end of year article on their website is correct, they have been surprised with their success this season. They appear to be playing to the Quins ethos of continuing to play until the final whistle, and as that article continues, this causes the team to be very tired by the end of the match, and it is this tiredness that has cost them in earlier years. There is no doubt that this is a big match for them and they are targeting to win and collect a bonus point. Will they qualify? They are taking it one game at a time and are waiting for Saturdays results before “counting their chickens”. Their team is functioning well and they are pleased with their “l’etat d’esprit”, and are hoping for good weather this weekend which they believe improves their play. They have learnt a lot from their failures of last season and believe that their strengths lie in defence and their power in the scrum and mauls, interestingly their ability in winning the ball is quoted to be ”irregular”.


Harlequins last visit to Castres in this competition back in November 2001 saw them loose 24-18 despite tries from Greenwood and Wood. In October 2004, at the Stoop, the two sides played out a 23 -23 draw, in a match that Quins could and should have won. That day Quins were the better team, unfortunately it wasn’t reflected in the result, and it can be argued that this result signalled the early exit of Quins from the competition. This was a match that had plenty to offer and Quins played well but Castres were undoubtedly the happier of the two by picking up two unexpected points from a game where they expected to have come away from with nothing, proving that some French teams can travel.

The fact that Harlequins dropped two points was due entirely to the Castres centre Richard Dourthe, who picked up the man of the Match award, with his excellent goal kicking and making the break that enabled Castres to score there only try of the afternoon. Ex Wasps, Paul Volley also caused Quins problems until his yellow card deep into the second half, as did there other centre Mark Denney.

Their squad also boasts many International players, including their Team Captain and hooker, Mario Ledesma and prop Mauricio Regardo who have over 90 Argentina Caps between them. Ledesma was part of the Narbonne team that lost to Harlequins 42-33 in the European Shield final in May 2001, and it was his converted try tat took the game into extra time. Alongside Dourthe, Fly half Yannick Delaigue and wing Ugo Mola have been capped by France. In common with the run up to other Heineken games it is almost impossible in getting hold of the opposition team news. At the time of publication, the Castres team had not been posted on their home website nor that of the ERC.


In announcing their team, Harlequins have made wholesale changes to the pack, and a total of seven changes to side that met Wasps last weekend. Essentially there is “nothing to loose” and it given the Quins management an opportunity to experiment with the squad. There is a new look back row, with most notably Captain Andre Vos, being rested this weekend and so will be unable to settle a few scores, after his knee in the back in the home match. The mantle of Captain is taken by Luke Sherriff., congratulations.

In the back row, in addition to Sheriff, Molitka and Horstmann take over from Easter and Diprose who are on the bench. Alongside Vos, they have both put in some solid performances in recent weeks and deserve “a breather”. Up front, Ace Tiatia returns to replace the injured James Hayter at hooker whilst on the bench are academy players Cameron Dott and Tom Muggeridge provide cover on the bench. Dott has played, albeit briefly in a First XV match last season, but I believe if he comes on this will be Muggeridge’s debut. In the second row Karl Rudzki and Simon Miall replace Roy Winters and the cup tied Simon Maling.

At the back Gavin Duffy keeps his place ahead of Tom Williams who is on the bench after recovering form an illness, and Andy Dunne starts as fly half replacing Jeremy Staunton, who is on the bench. I m pleased to see that faith has been kept with the wing and centre partnerships. Keogh was a real terrier last weekend.

This will be another tough match for Harlequins and Castres must be confident of making full use of their home advantage, as The Stade Pierre Antoine is a formidable arena. An upset could be possible if Castres become over confident. The “new look “Quins team do have a point to prove and could surprise us all. Whilst my heart would go for a spectacular away win, my head is telling me that this will be a home win as Castres chase for a quarter final place and as they have won their last six home Heineken Cup ties, I believe that Quins will leave France Castrated!



Allez les Quins!



NEC Harlequins:
15.Gavin Duffy 14.George Harder, 13. Dafydd James, 12. Mel Deane 11. Simon Keogh, 10. Andy Dunne, 9. Steve So’oialo, 1. Ceri Jones, 2. Ace Tiatia, 3. Jon Dawson, 4.Karl Rudzki, 5. Simon Miall, 6. Maama Molitika, 7. Luke Sheriff (c), 8, Kai Horstmann

Replacements:
16. Cameron Dott, 17. Tom Muggeridge, 18.Nick Easter , 19. Tony Diprose, 20. Jeremy Staunton, 21 Andy Reay , 22. Tom Williams

Castres Olympique:

At the time of publication Castres Olympique had not announced their squad.

Please check here http://www.ercrugby.com/cup/31_2897.php for an update


Match Officials
Referee: Donal Courtney (Ireland)

Touch judges: Ali McKay (Ireland),
Peter Roche (Ireland)

Match commissioner: Pierre Camou (France)