European Cup Diary: Cheered by the visit of the Ireland Rules squad, and refreshed by a glass of Dunboyne vintage, Trevor Brennan looks forward to the big kick-off
Bonjour encore. It's that time of year again. Twenty-four teams battling it out in six pools for a chance to play in the final and get their hands on it: the Heineken European Cup.
Our last involvement in this competition was that quarter-final defeat at home to Leinster which, for the first time in the four years that I've been here, ended our chances of progressing to the semi-finals.
After that we had to go and do a bit of soul searching, which we did, to reach the semi-finals of the French Championship against Stade Français in Lyon. Underdogs, we came through a real battle by 12-9.
Defence, defence, defence. The stats showed that I made 26 tackles, which was noted afterwards, and I probably touched the ball only once. That tells you the type of game it was.
To explain it in layman's terms, we did a Mayo on it. Our biggest performance of the year was in the semi-final, but then come the final we just didn't turn up. The wheels fell off the bus after we conceded a couple of quick tries at the start of the second half and we got the living bejaysus beaten out of us, 40-13, in front of 80,000 people in the Stade de France.
I bumped into the Biarritz president, Marcel Martin, in the corridor outside the dressingrooms after the game and he said their defeat in the European Cup final to Munster had given them the desire to go on and win the championship: "Maybe if we'd won the Heineken Cup we'd have given you the French Championship."
I went to that European Cup final in the Millennium Stadium with my Munster jersey, courtesy of Alan Quinlan from our semi-final three years before.
Hats off to the ERC organisers. While I watched the opening ceremony I thought to myself how lucky those players were to be involved in such an occasion. I'd been there for the previous three seasons but I don't think you could compare the atmosphere in Cardiff last May to any other final in the tournament's history.
The competition just gets bigger and bigger with each passing year.
I started the season feeling fresher than ever, after spending most of the summer hanging out in Ireland with Paula and the kids. I really switched off from rugby like I hadn't done in years, but early in the season I suffered a cracked vertebra, which I've had to play through.
Seán Boylan, who is managing the Irish International Rules squad this year, came over to Toulouse earlier in the season with his travel agent and sidekick, Eugene Magee, a Wanderers man known among the players as Louis Walsh.
They came over to see if there was the possibility of bringing the International Rules squad over here for a three-day training camp. To cut a long story short, I brought them around the club, we met with some people, shook a few hands, and it was a done deal.
Later that evening, Seán and Eugene wanted to see us train. We arrived down half an hour early and I asked Seáif he'd kindly have a look at my back.
As well, of course, as being Meath coach for 20 years or so before resigning last year, he's a fifth-generation herbalist. So we made our way down to the dressingrooms, where our two physios, Christophe and Michel, were working on a couple of lads.
I introduced Seán as a friend from Ireland who was going to have a look at my back. Seán said he'd need a table and a chair, and went to work. He called Michel in to help, with me translating, telling him to hold me down as Seán twisted me, turned me and pulled me.
"Is he a physio?" Michel asked.
"No, not exactly."
"Is he a chiropractor?"
"No, I don't think he's that either."
"Is he an osteopath?"
How the hell do I explain this, I thought to myself. I said Seán was a herbalist, and that he'd worked on rugby players such as Moss Keane and Neil Francis. They looked confused. Then Fabien Pelous came in and asked who's yer man? I said he was the coach of the Irish "compromise rules" team, which was a mixture of Gaelic football and Aussie Rules.
"What's that?" asked Fabien.
"He's the coach as well?" asked Michel and Christophe. "And he's the doctor and the physio?" And they burst out laughing.
Fabien didn't know what was going on. But that's Seán. You just can't describe a man like that. He's unique.
For the next few weeks I felt incredible, brilliant. When I cracked the vertebra I was given two options, one of which was an operation. As this would have sidelined me for six months it wasn't an option, because this will probably be my last year playing.
So I took the second option, which was to rest for a few weeks. Seán also gave me a few herbs to drink and told me of a story when he treated Moss Keane. He gave Moss a three-week supply of herbal medicine but three days later Moss rang and asked, "Have you any more of that medicine, Seán"
He'd drunk the three-week supply in three days. Another unique man.
The Irish squad came over last weekend for their three-day training camp with a party of 60. It was a successful trip. They got good sessions in during the day and at night were allowed use the firsts' pitch under floodlights.
This year, 2007, is the Stade Toulouse centenary, and when officially welcoming the Irish squad our president, René Bouscatel, said it was the first time in the club's 100 years they had received a Gaelic team, and that it would be an honour for French rugby that the French team will be the first visiting team to play at Croke Park.
I had to leave the Irish lads on Friday as we were away to Bayonne on Saturday and we didn't get back until late. Trailing 9-0 at half-time, we had to work hard for our victory and I was brought on about 10 minutes into the second half. I got a terrible whack on the side of my head and had to have about 20 stitches.
Guy Noves had a team meeting with us yesterday, instead of going through the video of the Bayonne game on Saturday. Guy said a few things are going to have to change. And I think everyone in the squad would agree that we're missing something, a bit of fire or a bit of gas or whatever. We've had an up-and-down season. We haven't clicked. Yet we're third in the French championship, which I suppose is a good thing in one way.
Our injury list is incredible: the two outhalves, Frédéric Michalak and Jean-Frédéric Dubois, Jean-Baptiste Elissalde, Clément Poitrenaud, Yannick Nyanga, Xavier Garbajosa. We've played 11 matches already and there were a couple of weeks when we were playing Saturday, Wednesday, Sunday, and once you get an injury or two you're in trouble. And there's a lot of doubt about whether these players will be fit for the Ulster game.
Guy said in the team meeting that playing against Ulster would be like playing against 22 Trevor Brennans. I was wheeled out for the press conference with the French media yesterday and told them that I loved playing in Ravenhill, that they're a great crowd, the atmosphere is brilliant and the players are good guys. They are also the best team in Ireland on form at the moment and we're very aware of that.
They then quoted Guy, who had apparently told them it would be like playing 22 Trevor Brennans. I said I hoped not, for their sake. Of course he would say something like that, but in truth there really is only one Trevor Brennan. Thank God!
Meeting the Irish lads again on Sunday, Seán asked me to take the warm-up, and we did a lot of bagwork and stuff. For me it was a privilege to be training with Irish players who have all reached the pinnacle of their own sport.
I'd like to wish the lads the best of luck but I don't want them to trust in luck. As the Jesuit philosopher Anthony De Mello said, "Trusting in luck is like walking into an expensive restaurant without a cent in your pocket, and eating dozens of oysters in the hope of finding a pearl to pay the bill."
The currency required to win these competitions is a combination of skill, determination, guts, belief in yourself as an individual and in each other as a team. And from my own experience, make your own luck, lads, and you'll find that pearl.
(In an interview with Gerry Thornley. Trevor Brennan's Toulouse diary can also be read on the ERC website: www.ercrugby.com)FRIDAY
European Cup - Pool 2: Agen v Edinburgh (7.30); Pool 3: Ospreys v Sale Sharks (7.30); Pool 5: London Irish v Llanelli Scarlets (8.0); Pool 6: Border Reivers v Overmach Parma (7.30). European Challenge Cup- Connacht v Harlequins, Sportsground (7.0)
SATURDAY
European Cup - Pool 1: Benetton Treviso v Perpignan (2.0); Pool 2: Leinster v Gloucester Rugby, Lansdowne Road (5.30); Pool 3: Rugby Calvisano v Stade Français Paris (1.0); Pool 4: Bourgoin v Cardiff Blues (3.30); Pool 5: Ulster Rugby v Toulouse, Ravenhill (1.35).
All-Ireland League - Division One (2.30): Blackrock College v Cork Constitution, Stradbrook; Clontarf v Lansdowne, Castle Avenue; Garryowen v Ballymena, Dooradoyle; Shannon v Buccaneers, Thomond Park; St Mary's College v Galwegians, Templeville Road; Terenure College v Dungannon, Lakelands; UCD v UL Bohemian, Belfield.
Division Two (2.30): Clonakilty v Bective Rangers, Shannonvale; DLSP v Old Crescent, Kilternan; Dublin University v Barnhall, College Park; Highfield v Greystones, Woodleigh Park; Malone v Carlow, Gibson Park; Suttonians v UCC, JJ McDowell Memorial Grounds; Thomond v Midleton, Fitzgerald Park; Young Munster v Old Belvedere, Clifford Park.
Division Three (2.30): Ards v Ballynahinch, Hamilton Park; Bruff v Banbridge, Kilballyowen Park; City of Derry v Waterpark, Judge's Road; Connemara v Instonians, Monastery Field; Nenagh Ormond v QUB, New Ormond Park; Old Wesley v Corinthians, Donnybrook; Rainey Old Boys v Wanderers, Hatrick Park; Sunday's Well v Portadown, Musgrave Park.
SUNDAY
European Cup - Pool 1: London Wasps v Castres Olympique (1.0); Pool 4: Leicester Tigers v Munster, Welford Road (3.0); Pool 6: Biarritz Olympique v Northampton Saints (3.0).
