HEINEKEN CUP POOL SIX:ALL ROADS lead to the Wild Wild West tomorrow – though the forecast suggests the weather will lighten by then – and in particular to the Sportsground. Befitting Connacht's home debut in the Heineken Cup and their 100th European match, against Toulouse, the princes of the European game, two other significant figures from the west, the recently elected President Michael D Higgins and Taoiseach Enda Kenny will be amongst the near 9,000-capacity attendance.
Perhaps even more pertinently however, all the signals from Stade Toulousain are that their long-serving, multi-decorated coach Guy Noves is set to bring a full-strength squad for their maiden voyage to Galway in a match the four-time European champions have clearly targeted for an away win.
This is set to include the recently-crowned IRB World Player of the Year and France’s outstanding World Cup finalist, Thierry Dusautoir, who is thus in line to make his season re-appearance for the four-time Heineken Cup winners at the Sportsground.
Dusautoir, who also captains Toulouse, hasn’t played for his club this season due to leading his country’s World Cup rollercoaster ride, having been rested since his phenomenal, leader-from-the-front, try-scoring performance in the final against New Zealand.
He is in the match-day squad of 23 and is set to start in the backrow, possibly alongside another World Cup player, the huge, hard-carrying number eight Louis Picamoles, and their lineout expert Jean Bouilhou.
The same is true of Vincent Clerc. A regular thorn in both Ireland and Leinster sides over the years, and the competition’s all-time leading try-scorer with 33 to his name, he is also set to make his seasonl reappearance for the reigning French champions.
Likewise, Clerc hasn’t played since the final of the World Cup, where he was the tournament’s joint leading try scorer.
He could be in a gifted back three featuring another regular starter for France in the World Cup, Maxime Medard, as well as a man who should have been there, Clement Poitrenaud, who was the game’s supreme runner and match winner against Gloucester last week.
With another World Cup finalist, young scrumhalf Jean-Marc Doussain, ruled out through injury, Toulouse’s newly-recruited Australian World Cup scrumhalf Luke Burgess is set to start again after his man-of-the-match outing for Toulouse on his debut last week, and most likely alongside another close-season recruit, former All Black Luke McAlister.
One of the all-time greats, Yannick Jauzion, is also included in the travelling squad.
Contemplating the prospect of their visit to Galway, Noves said: “We will continue to progress. Everything is still not quite in place but what is, is the desire of the players to not let anything go and to continue in this competition.”
All the signs are that France’s World Cup final-starting hooker William Servat will start too, possibly between Yohan Montes and Census Johnston, Samoa’s 130kg World Cup tight-head.
Servat, who owns a Spanish tapas bar/restaurant with Trevor Brennan in Toulouse called La Cantina, is clearly enthusiastic about this first-time experience.
“Of course! By the way I looked up the Connacht ground. Trevor Brennan, my friend, described it as a small stage, a pastoral setting . . . He even went so far as to say it would have sheep on it!” laughed Servat, a one-club man for the last 13 seasons.
“But seriously, we expect a very, very big game.
“The match at Connacht, is ideal for an ambush. It reminds me of my first European Cup match (a 29-24 defeat to Ulster September in 1998). A small ground, lost in the fog, an incredible fervour, players who never give up.”
As regards Connacht, he said respectfully: “This is an Irish team, period. And that says it all: it is composed of players who have a lot of heart, who will bring the fight to us. We watched their match at Harlequins, who are currently leading the Premiership and quite frankly, their defeat was not by much. This shows all the quality of this team.”
