By BrianC
March 29 2006

This week we switch back to European action in the form of a home European Challenge Cup Quarter Final against the French club Bayonne. Bayonne qualified as 6th seeds having come second in their pool to Gloucester. They lost both their games against our West Country rivals but saw off the other teams in their pool, Toulon and Bucuresti, both home and away to qualify. Our two teams have never before played each other.

They have not been doing too well in the French league this season. Currently they sit 10th out of 14. The one notable scalp they have claimed along the way was Biarritz who they beat narrowly at home.

After last week’s loss to Sale Brian Smith faces a bit of a conundrum. Had we won that game we would pretty well be guaranteed a Heineken Cup spot next season by dint of our league position. That being the case we would almost certainly, given our injury list, have rested key players for this game. Whilst it still looks as if we’ll end up in the top five of the GP, that cannot now be guaranteed. We need to keep the route to HC qualification via this competition open.

We will be going into this match as clear favourites. Bayonne coach Gilbert Doucet is under no illusions about the task ahead of him. “We know from our trip to Gloucester what the quality of the Guinness Premiership is like and, talking to players there, we know that London Irish are seen as formidable opponents. Let’s face it – any team that can boast players of the quality of Olivier Magne can only be seen as fierce adversaries!”

I expect us to win this one as, no doubt, do most of those reading this. There is however the banana skin factor here. We must not be complacent otherwise we could all find ourselves in shock come Sunday evening.