Connacht head coach targets European Challenge Cup away win over Bordeaux

CONNACHT travel to Bordeaux Bègles for their final Pool 3 game in the European Challenge Cup on Saturday (3pm), knowing victory on French soil will, in all likelihood, secure them a place in the quarter-finals of the competition in late March.

Andy Friend’s charges took a big scalp in group leaders Sale Sharks last day out and, currently, they sit alongside the Premiership outfit at the top of the table. However, a win against Bordeaux may be enough to edge them beyond Sale – but, even if it does not, it should be sufficient to take one of the three best runners-up spots available across the five pools.

For his part, Head Coach Friend is shying away from the various possible scenarios, stressing there is only one outcome he and his team is interested in – and that is victory. “So, I honestly have not looked at the permutations with it. All I know is we have got to win. There are too many (permutations) and I have too many other things to think about to be honest.

“Seriously, I don’t even worry about it because I don’t know who is going to do what. All I know is that if we win, we are in a quarter-final. And once you get into that top eight, does it really matter who you are playing?”

Some of the big names left in the competition are thrown into the air like confetti, including French Top 14 leaders Clermont and third-placed La Rochelle. Friend, though, remains unperturbed. “There are probably a couple of teams that you would prefer to meet later on but if you are going to win it, you are going to have to beat the best that is there.

“So, we know we just need to get into that quarter-final spot and whoever we face and wherever we need to face them, we will be ready for that,” states the Connacht coach.

Yet, before all this, the province must bring their ‘A’ game to Bordeaux and over-turn an outfit that has been flying high of late. In their European Challenge Cup tie last weekend, they dispensed of Perpignan 34-27, away, with Cameron Woki, George Tilsley, Nicolas Plazy, Afa Amosa and scrum-half Yann Lesgourgues accounting for their five tries. Lucas Meret provided the extras from the boot.

In other words, they will ask serious questions of Connacht. “Like every French team, they are big and physical. We know from a forward pack point of view they will definitely test us but they are a quality squad too. They have got speed out wide and if you let them play, they will hurt you.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.

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