Toulouse vs London Irish - Match Preview
Le Trek to Toulouse
By Billy Hamilton
October 7 2002
“ Ici Nous Allons, Ici Nous Allons, Ici Nous Allons” (or “Here We Go, Here We Go, Here We Go” as they would say in these parts).
HEINEKEN CUP PREVIEW
We may be a bit disheartened at the moment but cheer up. "The Craic" European Tour 2002/2003 starts this week.
London Irish is undertaking its first foray into the Heineken Cup and its supporters will be there also. Granted the locations are not as exotic as last season when we went to Spain, Italy and twice to France. Newport in December and Edinburgh in January have not the same ring as Valladolid and Rome but we will make our own amusement. We will therefore have to enjoy what might be our only overseas trip in Toulouse this week.
An estimated 200 supporters will be making the journey to what we hope will be a sunny South of France. The usual suspects have had a pre-season training camp in Dublin and are ready to lead the rest astray (surely "conduct them on a cultural excursion" – Editor). The supplies officer has been practising saying "Trente cinq pints de Guinness et un Diet Coca, s’il vous plait garcon" and hope that it will cost the same 109 Euros that it cost in Dublin. Final details of the arrangements for the social side of the tour will be posted on the website. I look forward to seeing you all – "Allez les Verts or les Ecrus".
"What will we be doing on Saturday afternoon?" Oh yes I had almost forgotten the real reason for us going all that way. This is the opening game in the Heineken Cup against Stade Toulousain. I am sorry that I cannot really be too optimistic about our chances of qualifying out of the group based on our performances so far this season.
The table below shows the records of the four teams in the group so far this season.
|
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
PTS |
|
|
Edinburgh |
6 |
5 |
0 |
1 |
204 |
132 |
20 |
|
Toulouse |
6 |
4 |
1 |
1 |
172 |
94 |
18 |
|
London Irish |
6 |
1 |
0 |
5 |
124 |
171 |
4 |
|
Newport |
6 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
97 |
152 |
0 |
This table disregards bonus points which are not in operation in the French league or Heineken Cup. (Toulouse have been awarded points in accordance with the custom in the other countries)
So we have a large mountain to climb to tackle the top two teams Edinburgh and Toulouse who have really been in form this season. But we have the potential. Remember the Powergen Cup final and our Shield quarterfinal game against Pau last season? Those performances would have taken us past the best teams in the World. The object of this article is not to dissect our season and point out where we are going wrong. It is sufficient to say that we are going wrong in a big way and need to get our game back to the high standards set last season.
The supporters will be there and look forward to supporting the team through thick and thin and enjoying ourselves along the way.