Biarritz Olympique Pays Basque v Ulster Rugby

[Teh Mite]

17/10/2010 @ 16:00, Parc des Sports Aguilera (FR2)

 

[Peat]

Huge game.

Biarritz have been hiccuping slightly in the T14, but I think will view this match as an early opportunity to build a decisive lead in their HC pool after scrambling it against Bath away.

From Ulster's point of view, Biarritz look shaky, they're in great form and this game and group represent a massive chance to qualify for the HC proper. Victory here would be a gigantic step. It doesn't seem that likely, but you can see the Ulster team will believe they can get it and will certainly be looking for something.

I haven't found a Biarritz squad list yet, but here's Ulsters:

Forwards: Botha, Court, McAllister, Young, Best, Brady, Kyriacou, Barker, Caldwell, Muller, Tuohy, Diack, Faloon, Ferris, Henry, Wannenberg

Backs: Marshall, Pienaar, Humphreys, O'Connor, Cave*, Spence, Wallace, Whitten, Danielli, Trimble, D'Arcy, McIlwaine, Smith*

The * represent players named who are unlikely to feature. Whitten into 13, toss up between D'Arcy and McIlwaine for 15.

I think Biarritz are going to win this as simply put, their kicker is better than ours. However, if the makeshift back-line holds and if the Ulster kickers step up the plate, this could yet be a famous victory...

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

Ulster: D McIlwaine, A Trimble, I Whitten, P Wallace, S Danielli, I Humphreys, R Pienaar; T Court, R Best, BJ Botha, J Muller, T Barker, P Wannenburg, S Ferris, R Diack.
Replacements: A Kyriacou, P McAllister, B Young, D Tuohy, C Henry, P Marshall, N Spence, A D'Arcy

 

[Peat]

Fun fact. Stephen Ferris is the shortest man in that loose five.

Biarritz Olympique: 15 Dane Haylett-Petty, 14 Takudzwa Ngwenya, 13 Charles Gimenez, 12 Michael Bond, 11 Iain Balshaw, 10 Julien Peyrelongue, 9 Dimitri Yachvili, 8 Raphael Lakafia, 7 Imanol Harinordoquy, 6 Magnus Lund, 5 Erik Lund, 4 Jérôme Thion, 3 Campbell Johnstone, 2 Benoit August, 1 Eduard Coetzee.
Replacements: 16 Romain Terrain, 17 Sylvain Marconnet, 18 Alexandre Barozzi, 19 Manuel Carizza, 20 Benoit Guyot, 21 Damien Traille, 22 Arnaud Mignardi, 23 Ilikena Bolakoro,

 

[coonor]

Ulster were so siapointing in the second half. They had done well in the first 40 mins but they didn't take their chances and in the second half the lost concentration made stupid mistakes and were ill disciplined. Some big players like Pienaar, muller, trimble and wannenburg didn't step up to the mark. Only a few players stood out from Ulster and They were Humphreys who was solid in defence and good in attack, and Ferris who was physical as ever and did well at the breakdown.