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Biarritz Olympique will travel to Adams Park on Saturday (12.30pm) on the back of a season reviving four wins in a row in the Top 14 - and with the kind of experience and fire-power that will present plenty of problems for the home side. - 06/04/2012 00:11
Biarritz Olympique will travel to Adams Park on Saturday (12.30pm) on the back of a season reviving four wins in a row in the Top 14 – and with the kind of experience and fire-power that will present plenty of problems for the home side.
The Frenchmen were one of three Pool runners-up in the Heineken Cup who joined forces with the five Pool winners in the Amlin Challenge Cup to make up the last eight. They ended their Heineken Cup campaign on a high with a 36-5 demolition of the Ospreys that included a hat-trick of tries from the USA speedster Taku Ngwenya.
His pace out wide, along with former England international Iain Balshaw will need to be negated and Wasps will have to ensure they don’t give Dimitri Yachvili any chances to show off his goal-kicking skills. He landed five penalties last weekend in the 15-14 home win over ASM Clermont Auvergne.
Not that Wasps are short of quality when it comes to goal kicking. Welsh international Nicky Robinson kicked 51 points to steer the 2003 champions to the top of Pool 3, while former England Under 20 star Elliot Daly demonstrated his long range fire-power in last weekend’s much needed Premiership victory over Gloucester.
They will both have Biarritz in their sights as they attempt to notch a notable Basque double for the English prmiershipside after they beat Bayonne at Adams Park in the Pool stages and emerged from a Pool that contained two Top 14 sides.
If it has been a difficult season for both clubs domestically, they have performed well in Europe and have huge pedigrees in both ERC tournaments. Wasps have two Heineken Cups and an Amlin Challenge Cup in their trophy cabinet, while Yachvili, Imanol Harinordoquy, Jerome Thion and Julien Peyrelongue merely have memories of what might have been from their Heineken Cup final defeats in 2006 and 2010.
Biarritz have only won on the road three times in 14 Top 14 and Heineken Cup games this season and, like so many French teams, look vulnerable away from home. That will give Wasps a chance to get amongst them and unsettle them.
It will take a huge effort from the home side, but with the chance to bid for a Heineken Cup ticket next season by winning the title, Dai Young’s men will be highly motivated.
Et de trois ! Si Brive l'emporte dimanche face à Llanelli
Biarritz Olympique became the third French club to book a place in the Amlin Challenge Cup semi-finals – and London Wasps the third English club to bow out – but the the French giants were given a real scare before edging hom 26-23 in their Saturday lunchtime quarter-final at Adams Park.
With Stade Francais Paris and Toulon already through to the last four Biarritz, who qualified for the Amlin Challenge Cup quarter-finals as one of the Heineken Cup Pool runners-up, looked to be cruising to a comfortable when 14 points clear after an hour.
But a young Wasps side refused to go down without a fight and two tries of their own had Biarritz hanging on in a grandstand finish.
Biarritz will now have home advantage when they meet the winners of tomorrow’s final quarter-final between Brive and the Scarlets on Saturday, 28 April.
The big difference was French scrum half ace Dimitri Yachvili, who never missed a kick to end up with 16 points and left Wasps Director of Rugby Dai Young asking “did he make a mistake all game? He was outstanding.
“We have to be honest and at one stage in the first half we looked dead and buried but we showed a lot of determination and guts and with eight minutes to go it could have gone either way. We needed a bit of field position but just could not get that when it really mattered.
“They left at least three strong try opportunities out there but were still the more clinical side and I do not think we were either the better side or deserved to win the game.
“We have played three French teams in this season’s Amlin Challenge Cup given good accounts of ourselves – we will be all the better for those experiences.
“We matched up to Biarritz in attitude but in knock-out rugby you cannot give anything away and unfortunately we did that.”
Full back Ian Balshaw sprinted over for Biarritz’s first try after 22 minutes and prop Eugene van Staden rumbled his way over for their second just seconds before half-time to take them 17-9 ahead at the break, outside half Nick Robinson kicked three penalties in reply.
But Wasps were stung into action and, despite a couple more Yachvili penalties leaving them a mountain to climb, they so very nearly made it.
The exciting wing Christian Wade got their first and then centre Ryan Davis got the next and with Robinson on target with both conversions in the blink of an eye it was level pegging at 23-23.
But up stepped Yachvili to land his fourth penalty and drag Biarritz over the line with just minutes to spare at the end of a match full of twists and turns.
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