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Basque giants Biarritz Olympique are determined to reach a third European final by overcoming 1997 Heineken Cup champions Brive in Saturday's Amlin Challenge Cup semi-final at Stade Aguilera. - 26/04/2012 12:37
Basque giants Biarritz Olympique are determined to reach a third European final by overcoming 1997 Heineken Cup champions Brive in Saturday’s Amlin Challenge Cup semi-final at Stade Aguilera.
Biarritz have been the nearly men in Europe after falling to heart-breaking defeats at the final stage of the Heineken Cup in 2006 and 2010. They failed to qualify for the knockout stages of the Heineken Cup this season but ensured their place in the last four of the Amlin Cup by claiming a tense 26-23 victory over Wasps at Adams Park.
Biarritz have struggled in this season's Top14, following a slow start to the competition, and can only qualify for a 13th consecutive Heineken Cup by going all the way in the Amlin. The Basque outfit were boosted by a convincing victory over Racing Metro on the weekend, to ease their relegation fears, now they are fully focussed on European battles.
“We did a good job at the weekend against Racing to improve our chances of staying in the Top 14 but the job is still not done,” said back-row Benoit Guyot, who played the full 80 minutes against Racing.
“Now we are fully focussed on producing something special in the Amlin Challenge Cup. Winning the Amlin is the only way for us to get a Heineken Cup ticket for next year.
“We definitely aren't taking this competition lightly because it's the only way for us to finish the season well – a season which started very badly.”
Biarritz will also bid farewell to Sylvain Marconnet at the end of the season, following three seasons with the French club.
The legendary French prop will retire at the end of the season and Guyot admits the players are desperate to give their team-mate the perfect send off.
Meanwhile Brive are eyeing a return to the glory days by claiming their first piece of silverware since lifting the Heineken Cup in 1997. Fifteen years have passed since the club's famous 28-9 victory over Leicester Tigers at the old Cardiff Arms Park.
Brive advanced through Pool 5 unbeaten and edged past the Scarlets to set-up their semi-final clash with Brive.
Former England international Shane Geraghty admits Brive have a huge task in front of them but he says everyone at the club is trying to repeat the great scenes of 1997.
“You walk around the club and you see so many photos from the Heineken Cup win in Cardiff in 1997. That would have been a massive achievement for any club but especially for Brive which is a small town with a community of around 50,000,” said Geraghty.
“To make the final would be fantastic for the fans – it would be a big day out for them and they deserve that. We have been written off by a lot of people this year but we've been proving them wrong so far in the Top 14 and we want to keep moving forward. Now we will target a place in the Amlin Challenge Cup Final.
“It is an incredible effort for the club to be in the semi-final and the whole of Brive is buzzing at the minute – we are really looking forward to taking Biarritz on.”
Geraghty missed the Pool stages through injury and is yet to score a point in this season's competition. And the fly-half, who will return to London Irish at the end of the season, has identified Biarritz's prolific points-machine Dimitri Yachvilli as a major threat.
“Dimitri Yachvili, who kicked Biarritz to victory against London Wasps in the quarter-finals, is a talisman for them and really controls the game,” added Geraghty.
Biarritz aura donc une troisième chance de décrocher un titre européen. Sa victoire confortable face à Brive lui offre un billet pour la finale de la Amlin Cup au Twickenham Stoop le 18 mai
Biarritz Olympique will be aiming to make it third time lucky in Europe after setting up an Amlin Challenge Cup final showdown with RCT Toulon thanks to a comfortable victory over Brive.
The Basque giants have twice crashed to heartbreaking Heineken Cup final defeats, in 2006 and 2010, but hope to go one better in the Amlin after cruising past Brive at Stade Aguilera.
Damien Traille crashed over for the crucial try and Dimitri Yachvili kept the scoreboard ticking with a 14-point haul as Biarritz held the 1997 Heineken Cup champions to zero.
Biarritz won the early battle for territory in testing conditions and Yachvili made amends for an earlier miss by booting the hosts into the lead.
Riaan Swanepoel could have hit back but was off-target before Yachvili stretched the hosts' lead following a piercing break from Iain Balshaw.
Biarritz grabbed the opening try on 28 minutes after taking advantage of the wet and windy conditions in the south west of France.
Marcello Bosch launched a huge up-and-under and Traille snatched the ball from the grasps of Ronnie Cooke to score. Yachvili converted to hand the hosts a 13-0 half-time lead.
Brive demonstrated more impetus in the second-half and began to ask questions of Biarritz's defence but were unable to open their account.
Following a prolonged period of scrum dominance George Clancy offered a shot at goal but the former kings of Europe turned the opportunity down and were turned over at the ensuing scrum.
To make matters worse Biarritz worked their way back up field and Yachvili slotted a pair of late penalties to bring the score to 19-0.
Brive refused to give up Poutasi Luafutu launched a powerful counter-attack at the death but his hard work was undone when Alexandre Barozzi was red-carded for punching at the breakdown.
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