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Quarter-final hero Jonathan Wisniewski has warned Harlequins they will face a Grenoble side with nothing to lose in their European Rugby Challenge Cup semi-final. - 19/04/2016 11:10
Quarter-final hero Jonathan Wisniewski has warned Harlequins they will face a Grenoble side with nothing to lose in their European Rugby Challenge Cup semi-final.
The fly-half scored 23 points in a thrilling last-eight win over Connacht to put the French club just 80 minutes from reaching the final in Lyon.
Standing in their way are a Quins side with considerable pedigree in this tournament – the Premiership team are three-time winners – and are looking to send director of rugby Conor O’Shea off to his new job with Italy with a winners' medal hanging proudly round his neck.
The London side are also the leading points and try scorers in this season’s competition, having racked up 263 points and 36 tries in seven games so far.
On home turf the English team may well start as the bookmakers’ favourites, but Wisniewski and his team-mates will not fear the trip to the Stoop on Friday night, and the former Racing 92 stand-off does not want the hard work that has seen him produce some of the best form of his career go to waste.
“We have nothing to lose and we will go for broke,” he said. “We have taken some big strides as a side this season and we do not want to stumble at this stage when we are so close to the finish.
“We have performed well in Europe and I have been happy with my own performance. It has gone well for me and it is certainly some of the best form I have experienced in my career.
“I work hard with the coaches and I work hard on my skills and preparation. I have used a dietician and used some different things like aromatherapy, anything that can make me better and I want to make the most of it.”
O’Shea has urged his side to show greater consistency in recent weeks and he wants to see a positive performance after their Premiership defeat to Saracens at Wembley.
“We know where things have gone awry for us this season,” said the former Ireland international. “We have set our sights high and we have a European Challenge Cup semi-final to look forward to and we want to finish the season by winning our remaining games and a trophy.”
Match Facts
- This will be the first meeting between the clubs in European competition.
- This will be Harlequins' fifth appearance at the semi-final stage of the Challenge Cup; they advanced to the final on three of the previous four occasions and lifted the trophy each time.
- Harlequins have won seven of their eight home games against TOP 14 opposition in the Challenge Cup, including the last five in a row.
- This is the first time Grenoble have reached the semi-final stage of the Challenge Cup; they lost their previous quarter-final tie (two legs) to Connacht before beating the same opposition in the quarter-final this season.
- Grenoble have won their last two games against Premiership opposition in the Challenge Cup, previously they had won just two of 13.
- The two recent wins against an English club both came against London Irish, who were defeated by Harlequins in the quarter-finals.
- Grenoble have the best place kick success this season landing 90% (38/42) of their shots at goal.
- Harlequins have averaged the most carries (128) and clean breaks (13.9) per game this season and have made the most metres in the process (545).
- Harlequins' Ben Botica has beaten 23 defenders in the competition this season, more than any other player, while teammate Marland Yarde (21) is one of three other players to have beaten more than 20.
- Only Cardiff's Lloyd Williams (8) has been directly involved in more tries this season than Danny Care (7). The Harlequins scrum-half has scored five and made two assists.
Hiérarchie respectée au Stoop de Twickenham pour cette première demi-finale de l'European Rugby Challenge Cup
Harlequins stormed into their fourth European Rugby Challenge Cup final with three try victory over Grenoble that earned them the first ticket to the Grand Stade de Lyon next month.
Jamie Roberts, Nick Evans and George Lowe all crossed to secure their place in the final, although they were given a tough task at the Twickenham Stoop by a gutsy Grenoble side who threatened to pull off a shock.
Now Quins will face either Montpellier or Newport Gwent Dragons in France on Friday, May 13. Harlequins had won three of their previous four appearances in Challenge Cup semi-finals and made a perfect start as they chased a 10th successive win on home soil in the tournament.
A powerful scrum from Joe Marler and Adam Jones handed Botica an early penalty that he easily swept over. Then the outside half started the move that ended with Heineken Man of the Match Roberts storming over for the first try in the 12th minute.
Botica’s long pass released Tim Visser on the left wing and from a ruck 10 metres out the Quins skipper Danny Care picked out Roberts on a trademark burst from midfield. He brushed aside two defenders, crossed the line and ended the move with a swallow dive in celebration.
Botica converted and swiftly cancelled out Jonathan Wisniewski’s kick with a second penalty of his own. It all added to a terrible start for Grenoble, who also lost both prop Dayna Edwards and centre Nigel Hunt to injuries inside 10 minutes.
But the French club, in their first European semi-final, recovered to cause Quins plenty of problems with their tough tackling. Wisniewski kicked a second penalty to cut the lead to 13-6 at half-time and make it anyone's game after the break.
Evans received a rapturous reception when he came on as a second half replacement after recovering from a broken leg in February. But that was nothing compared to the cheer less than three minutes later when the former All Black chip kicked behind the Grenoble defence and won the race to reach his own kick to score Quins’ second try.
Evans converted and added a penalty on 67 minutes after Grenoble had come within inches of the Quins try line.
That kick finally ended Grenoble’s effort and Lowe latched onto a clever kick by Danny Care to put the game beyond reach 10 minutes from time.
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