Press release from ERC


By Staff
March 20 2007

Saints pay their 3rd visit in 5 years to Biarritz in the Heineken Cup, Perhaps this time it will be different! This release from ERC tells us that away teams do not usually fare well in the Quarter finals, but we shall see....

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HEINEKEN CUP 2006 / 2007

 

Newswire 9

BIARRITZ BID FOR

FOUR IN A ROW

 

Biarritz Olympique are bidding to qualify for the Heineken Cup semi-finals for the fourth successive season – and they are banking on their massive Basque support helping to make it four in a row at Estadio Anoeta across the border in San Sebastian.

 

And, although they beat their quarter-finals opponents Northampton Saints home and away in their Pool 6 matches earlier in the tournament, international back row forward Thomas Lievremont dismisses any hint of complacency creeping into their approach.

 

“It’s great to be back at Anoeta,” he said. “We are all looking forward to playing on that pitch in front of a massive crowd again.

 

“I think all the tickets which have gone on sale have been sold already and that is a great feeling, that there are people throughout the Basque Country who are going to come and support us so who wouldn’t be looking forward to it?

 

“It has also been such a lucky charm for us - three wins out of three means we are pretty relaxed about it and don’t have the same feeling of slight trepidation that we had for the match against Munster back in 2005.

 

“The statistics of played two, won two against Northampton this season has obviously been used a lot by the media in the build-up to this game but we are determined not to fall into the trap of seeing ourselves as out and out favourites.

 

“They have a strong side and have everything to play for. In a way, we have more to lose so we are certainly not underestimating them at all.

 

“And Northampton have a lot of big players who we certainly noticed in our matches against them in the Pool stages. I know Steve Thompson is out but Dylan Hartley is certainly not there for decoration!

 

“He is a great hooker and joins a very strong pack,HeH and with the likes of Carlos Spencer and Bruce Reihana in the back line, we know how dangerous they can be while they’ve just made the signing of Christian Labit who is someone who knows all the tricks and who knows us very well too.

 

“We’re struggling in the Top 14 at the moment. We lost a key game at home just before Christmas to Toulouse and with only two Rounds played since then, we have not been able to really move past it. We’re currently out of the play-off positions so the Heineken Cup is a breath of fresh air for the players.

 

“The recent Six Nations loss to England was hard on all of the French squad, but I don’t think it will have a negative impact on our squad. None of the BO players felt they had a great game that day and, now that the Six Nations is over, they will be looking 100 percent towards the quarter-final and maybe a chance to take a bit of revenge on the English.

“We have only had two friendlies since our Round 6 Pool game and I’m not sure whether it’s an advantage or not. Obviously we will be more rested than Northampton but they will be more match-ready; having played a few more games. It’s not really until the end of the season where you start getting tired so it’s swings and roundabouts really

 

SUNDAY 1 APRIL

 

Biarritz Olympique v Northampton Saints       14.00  Estadio Anoeta, San Sebastian 

 

Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)

Touch Judges: Simon McDowell, Dermot Moloney (Ireland)

TMO: Brian Fitzgerald (Ireland)

Citing Commissioner: John West (Ireland)

Television: FR2 / Sky Sports

 

 

HEINEKEN CUP 2007 SEMI-FINALS

 

(To be played 21 / 22 April)

 

Biarritz Olympique OR Northampton Saints v London Wasps OR Leinster

Leicester Tigers OR Stade Français Paris v Llanelli Scarlets OR Munster

THE HEINEKEN CUP QUARTER-FINALS …

DID YOU KNOW?

 

  • The 40 Heineken Cup quarter-finals played so far have been watched by 789,893 fans.
  • The average attendance for each of those quarter-finals has been 19,747.
  • The 2004 / 2005 quarter-finals had the greatest combined attendance of 162,000 – an average of over 40,000 per quarter-final – when the ties were played at Lansdowne Road (Leinster v Leicester Tigers), Estadio Anoeta (Biarritz Olympique v Munster), Parc des Princes (Stade Français Paris v Newcastle Falcons) and Le Stadium in Toulouse (Toulouse v Northampton Saints).
  • The two quarter-finals played at Lansdowne Road attracted capacity crowds and a joint tournament quarter-final attendance record of 48,500. The 2004 / 2005 match was between Leinster and Leicester Tigers and the 2005 / 2006 clash between Munster and Perpignan.
  • Munster are appearing in a record ninth quarter-final – one more than treble champions Toulouse.
  • Munster trio Peter Stringer, John Hayes and Anthony Foley have appeared in a record eight quarter-finals – one more than team-mate David Wallace and Toulouse captain Fabien Pelous.
  • There were no quarter-finals in the first season of the tournament, the four Pool winners from the 12 competing teams going straight into the semi-finals.
  • None of the 40 quarter-finals has required extra time to establish a winner – although two of the 11 finals (1996 and 2005 and both won by Toulouse) have needed the extra 20 minutes along with the 1998 semi-final between Toulouse and Brive. Toulouse lost that one on a try count.
  • The 2006 / 2007 quarter-finalists have a total of 42 previous quarter-final appearances between them. The tally is made up of Munster (8), Leicester Tigers (7), Llanelli Scarlets and Stade Francais Paris (6 each), Biarritz Olympique (5), Leinster (4) and London Wasps and Northampton Saints (3 each).
  • Joel Jutge (France) and Alan Lewis (Ireland) have each refereed five quarter-finals – one more than Welshman Nigel Whitehouse and two more than Chris White (England).
  • The highest score in a quarter-final was the 71 points scored by Stade Francais Paris when they beat Pontypridd 71-14 at Stade Jean-Bouin in the 1998 / 1999 season. The 57 points difference is also the biggest winning margin.

 

 

 

JUST 10 AWAY DAY SPECIALS

 

The 40 Heineken Cup quarter-finals have ended with the home team winning 30 times and the away team going through to the semi-finals on 10 occasions.

It means 75% of the quarter-finals have gone with home advantage with treble champions Toulouse accounting for five of those home wins and defending Heineken Cup champions Munster another four.

And Munster are the only team to have won two away quarter-finals, at Stade Jean-Bouin against Stade Francais Paris in 2002 and at Welford Road against Leicester Tigers the following season.

 

HOME

 

5 –       Toulouse

4 –       Munster

3 –       Leicester Tigers

Stade Francais Paris

2 –       Biarritz Olympique

1 –       Cardiff Blues

Brive

Bath Rugby

Pau

Ulster Rugby

Perpignan

Colomiers

Llanelli Scarlets

Northampton Saints

Gloucester Rugby

Castres Olympique

Leinster

London Wasps

 

AWAY

 

Toulouse (26-18 at Dax, 1997)

Brive (25-18 at London Wasps, 1998)

Llanelli Scarlets (27-10 at Bath Rugby, 2002)

Munster (16-14 at Stade Francais Paris, 2002)

Munster (20-7 at Leicester Tigers, 2003)

Perpignan (26-19 at Llanelli Scarlets, 2003)

Biarritz Olympique (27-10 at Llanelli Scarlets, 2004)

Leicester Tigers (29-13 at Leinster, 2005)

Bath Rugby (15-12 at Leicester Tigers, 2006)

Leinster (41-35 at Toulouse, 2006)

 

BIARRITZ OLYMPIQUE v NORTHAMPTON SAINTS

 

ESTADIO ANOETA

 

Capacity: 32,000

Heineken Cup matches 2005 / 2007:

Played 3        Biarritz Olympique won 3   Visitors won 0

Biggest Biarritz Olympique wins – 19-10 v Munster (2004 / 2005); 18-9 v Bath Rugby (2005 / 2006)

 

HEAD-TO-HEAD

 

Played 6        Biarritz Olympique 4          Northampton Saints 2

2000 / 2001   Biarritz Olympique 37          Northampton Saints 30

                        Northampton Saints 32       Biarritz Olympique 24

2002 / 2003   Biarritz Olympique 23          Northampton Saints 20

                        Northampton Saints 17       Biarritz Olympique 14

2006 / 2007   Biarritz Olympique 22          Northampton Saints 10

                        Northampton Saints 8         Biarritz Olympique 17

 

Biggest Biarritz Olympique win – Biarritz Olympique 22 Northampton Saints 10

Biggest Northampton Saints win – Northampton Saints 32 Biarritz Olympique 24

 

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