By KevT
January 12 2004

NEC Harlequins take on Montauban on Saturday 10th January (kick off 7.30pm local time) at the Stade de Sapiac in the second round first leg of the Parker Pen Shield. It is a competition Quins hope to win as it would guarantee them entry into the Heineken Cup Final next season.

Quins make a number of changes for this match following their victory away at Newcastle last week. In the front row, Jason Leonard moves from tight head to loose head prop with Frenchman Laurent Gomez moving to tight head. In the second row, Roy Winter partners Karl Rudzki. Billy Davison is rested and Jim Evans suspended. In the back row, Ace Tiatia moves to blind side flanker, Pat Sanderson to open side and Captain Andre Vos starts at number eight. In the backs Paul Burke takes over from Andy Dunne who has an injured elbow.

This looks very much like a horses for courses selection. Montauban have a very big and physical pack and Mark Evans looks to have selected a pack to match. Jason Leonard is a very experienced loose head prop and has played in a number of physical front row encounters against French teams. Laurent Gomez will also know all about playing in these sort of matches. Roy Winters and Karl Rudzki will form a no nonsense second row and Ace Tiatia adds a bit of edge in the back row in place of Tony Diprose. The only change in the backs is the inclusion of Paul Burke which has been forced on Quins by the injury to Andy Dunne. If Dunne had been fit then the selection of fly half would have been a very close call.

Quins won a thrilling encounter at Newcastle last week in the last minute of injury time through a Ceri Jones try which also gained the team a bonus point. I asked loose head prop Ceri how the team felt after their win last week. 'It was a very important win and to get five points was great. The team had felt that they deserved a few more points from the away games at Sale and Gloucester and so to come away with five points on Sunday and eight in total from three difficult away trips was good. We are now in equal fourth place and not far off the last play off position.'

Ceri packing down against Cetransa (Andy Hancock)

I asked Ceri about his scoring record this season which is nine tries scored in all competitions for Quins and is more than Ugo Monye. Ceri explained, 'It was really nice to get the winning try although I wasn't doing much as I had most of the boys in front of me. Ugo came up to me after the match and said that it wasn't fair that I was scoring so many tries as I have the scrums, rucks and mauls to compete in. The try scoring is meant to be down to him. I've always been able to get across the whitewash in my career but I've never done as well as this. It's been phenomenal.'

I asked Ceri whether Steve Hansen, the Wales coach had been in touch. 'It's funny you should ask. They've been on the phone today and I've been called up to the Six Nations training squad. I'll be away with them for the next three Mondays. Hopefully that will go well as I'd love to win my first cap for Wales in this year's Six Nations. My game has really benefited from being at Quins and I couldn't be happier here. The team have really gelled well together this season and we really seem to have improved our performances this season.'

Turning to Saturday's game, I asked Ceri about the Montauban match. 'It's going to be a very hard game. They have a very big pack. They shared a hotel with us when we were in Beziers pre season and we could see that they were an enormous bunch of fellows. Some of our guys met up with some of the London Irish guys the other week and they were telling us what a physical side Montauban are. The Parker Pen Shield is very important to us as it's another route into the Heineken Cup next season. We are out of the domestic Cup now so we'd like to progress in this competition.'

Montauban have yet to announce their team but had a number of injuries in a hard match against Grenoble last week which they lost 6 –36. Former French international Full Back Pierre Bondouy went off injured with a calf problem, Captain and second row Serge Sergeev went off at half time with a shoulder problem and props Philip Lacombre and Pablo Martinez also suffered injuries. In a niggly match, hooker David Roumieu was given a yellow card and was dazed after a fracas which saw him punched in th face. Scrum half Constantin Ratchev was also yellow carded as was replacement prop Ben Bouhout.

At loose head, Montauban have Philip Lacombre who is a former soldier and at the age of 32 has played over seventy times for Montauban. If he doesn't recover from injury then Ben Bouhout is likely to play. He has played for Montauban over twenty times and has also had spells at Dax and Worcester. At hooker, 22 year old David Roumieu may start and he could be joined in the front row by Argentinian prop Pablo Martinez who comes from Tucuman. In the second row, Russian international and captain 37 year old Serge Sergeev is something of a talisman and has played nearly 250 matches for Montauban. If he is not fit then 28 year old Cedric Bergez may play. Bergez has had spells at Bayonne, Stade Toulouse, Perpignan and Toulon. Yoganne Correa completes the second row. He has come from Grenoble. In the back row, 27 year old Stanislas Durand was a junior French international and he plays blind side flanker. At open side, 24 year old Yohan Misse has joined from Castres. At number eight, Russian international Vlatcheslav Gratchev plays. He is originally from Siberia.

At scrum half the excellent Russian international Konstantin Ratchkov plays. He can play anywhere in the three quarters. At fly half Sebastien Fauque directs play and is adept at gaining excellent field position for his pack of forwards. At centre Montauban have former Frnech 'A' international Jerome Sieurac at inside centre. He is not your typical barn door inside centre weighing less than fourteen stone. It will be interesting see if Mel Deane finds any joy through him. At outside centre, Benoit Albert is likely to play. On the wing Montauban have the fifteen stone Cedric Bourcet on the left with sixteen stone Fijian international Ila• Derenalagui on the right wing. Look out Ugo Monye!!! At Full Back, former French international Pierre Bondouy may start if fit.

This is a very tough match for Quins. Montauban gave a strong London Irish side a real fright by beating them 30 – 26 in Montauban. They also ran them very close at the Majeski when Irish scraped home by 36 – 24 which saw Montauban through as the lucky losers. They tend to play a tight game with a lot of driving mauls and have a strong set piece. Quins' pack will have to be at its best and most physical to match Montuaban up front. Their backs are a little more pedestrian and Will Greenwood will be looking to unlock their defence. The very quick Ugo Monye will want to see if he can turn the sixteen stone Fijian Derenalagui. Look for some Burke kicks behind him for Ugo to run on to.

Although Montauban are bottom of their group in the league, it is rare for an English club to come away from a French trip with an away win. If Quins can sneak a few points advantage back to The Stoop for the second leg then they will be well satisfied. It will send the Montauban supporters (the Ultras) home unhappy. With Quins' pace out wide and a street wise pack of forwards, I give them the edge in a close contest.

Montauban: Bondouy ; Clèdes, Beyret, Sieurac, Fauré ; (0) Vermis, (m) Garcia ; Gratchev, Misse, Boukanoucha ; Corréa, Bergez (cap) ; Véron, Gaubert, Ben Bouhout or Martinez.

Replacements: Martinez or Scherrer, Roumieu, Roques, Soldan, Colomé, Ratchkov and Gordo

NEC Harlequins: 15. Gavin Duffy; 14. George Harder; 13. Will Greenwood; 12. Mel Deane; 11. Ugo Monye; 10. Paul Burke; 9. Simon Keogh; 1. Jason Leonard; 2. Tani Fuga; 3. Laurent Gomez; 4. Karl Rudzki; 5. Roy Winters; 6. Ace Tiatia; 7. Pat Sanderson; 8. Andre Vos – Captain

Replacements: 16. Jon Dawson; 17. Mike Worsley; 18. Bill Davison; 19. Kai Horstmann; 20. Tony Diprose; 21. Scott Bemand; 22. Chris Bell