Perpignan and Biarritz to faceoff for place in last eight
Both the French Rugby monsters have made it to the pool finals of European cup between them. Perpignan and Biarritz will be facing each other in a knock out match, as the winning team will be qualifying for the last eight in quarterfinals.
This pool 4 and pool 5 leaders match is the most anticipated rugby act this week and both the teams are strong contenders to grab a spot in last eight with a home quarter final.
Toulouse and Toulon the Top 14 sides have already qualified for the big matches. Toulon made their debut, whereas Toulouse are the four times champions of European Cup. Leinster and Northampton also got themselves registered for quarterfinals, leaving only
four vacancies to grab. The owners of these positions will be decided in this weekend’s fixtures including the one between Perpignan and Biarritz.
Biarritz, who have the record of making it to the finals two times and losing both of them, did themselves no good last week by losing 9-6 to Ulster. Ulster, the 1999 European champions are in tie with Biarritz and will be playing on weekend for the same
cause as Biarritz. Since 1999, Ulster never made it to the quarterfinals, has seen a constant downfall, and has an opportunity to crack this practice this Saturday against home team Aironi.
Biarritz have a long call to the quarter finals, as they not only have to hammer their hosts Perpignan with a bonus point, but also have to see Aironi overpowering Ulster. With practical and realistic approach, we can assume that if both Ulster and Biarritz
win their respective clashes then there will be a tie and one of them will make it to the best runners up spot.
Benoit August, the Biarritz hooker gave an astonishing performance against Ulster this season and believes in the fact that his squad has to achieve this target on their own instead of hoping Ulster to lose for them. He said, “We have our destiny in our
own hands, and if at all possible get a bonus point, though, it will be difficult to score four tries against Bath.”
Last time Bath and Biarritz faced each other, it was a 12-11 win for Biarritz. Bath suffered through a blow of losing Lewis Moody due to a knee ligament injury for six weeks. The English captain has also been ruled out of Six Nations initial matches because
of the injury. On the other hand Biarritz did win but couldn’t push the Bath’s defense and scored a single try in that match. In this special case they have to execute four successful tries to earn a bonus point.
Perpignan have their hopes high for the coming match as the coach Jacques Brunel announced that he will be upping sticks for Italy by the end of this season. He wants his team to give a great farewell by winning this match. Brunel was an assistant French
coach till 2007 for six years and was a major reason behind France making it to two World Cup finals. He made it clear that he wants to leave this club on a high note.
He said, “Thus far this part of the story has been a beautiful one and I want it to finish well.” He added, “I want it to end on a high in accordance with the level of the players here. Another part of the adventure takes place with the European Cup match
on Sunday.”
Perpignan is at standing at 17 points with three wins out of five and a draw in Pool 5. Whereas, Biarritz also have 17 points in their bad with two losses and three wins in five matches they played in Pool 4. On the other hand Scarlets also have hopes of
reaching the quarter finals and victory this weekend will give them the pride to be the only Welsh side to qualify. Ospreys, Cardiff Blues and Dragons have failed to reach quarter finals.
In the coming match against Perpignan and Biarritz, the winner will play Leicester Tigers in the last eight in a knock out match.
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