Cardiff in win or bust situation

IF IT is not quite accurate to say that Cardiff's season hinges on the outcome of their European Cup semi final at the Parc Municipal des Sports tomorrow, defeat would make it a bleak midwinter for not only Wales's richest club but one of the few in the country with any money.

The Cardiff coach Terry Holmes has conceded the first division title is beyond them after four losses in 10 starts and he knows that defeat against Brive would lead to an inquest at the Arms Park which has already bristled with discontent this season after the club's big spending in the summer yielded little in terms of results until the start of the European Cup.

"There is no question that Brive is a massive game for us," said Holmes, who has chosen an all international side for the tie with three other Wales caps left out. "I think we have slipped too far behind in the league to catch the leading two up, but winning the European Cup would be a bigger achievement. We are capable of succeeding and we have the advantage over Brive of having been at this stage before.

"Things have not gone this season entirely as we would have liked, but it was always going to take time to bed in new players and we need at least four new recruits to strengthen our squad this summer."

Brive is a small town in the Limousin region with a population of 50,000, but the rugby club regularly attract crowds of 15,000 and their supporters are regarded as the most partisan in France.

"Cardiff may have played in Begles and Toulouse recently," said the Brive and Emerging Wales second row Tony Rees who spent three seasons with Cardiff until moving to Japan in 1994, "but the crowds there are tame compared to Brive. The supporters will only want to see one things on Sunday: a home win, and they will do everything they can to ensure they get one. Even for a side with their experience, Cardiff could find the atmosphere unnerving."

Cardiff hope to turn the occasion against Brive. "French spectators make a lot of noise but quickly turn against their own side if things are not going well," said the Cardiff and Wales out half Jonathan Davies. "We have to use the crowd to our advantage and make sure we get everything right tactically."

Cardiff, even without taking the freezing conditions into account, are likely to play a percentage game, using the half backs Davies and Robert Howley to keep the ball in front of their forwards a number of whom, the second row Derwyn Jones and the back rowers Hemi Taylor and Emyr Lewis, have a considerable amount to prove after recently being ignored by Wales.

Lewis this week suffered the ignominy of becoming the first Wales squad player to lose his £30,000 a year contract with the Welsh Rugby Union after falling out of favour with the selectors and he learned the news from a journalist. "I have had better weeks," he said. "I am still ambitious to play for Wales and it is up to me to prove that I am worth my place again."

Cardiff's ball retention has been a major weakness in their game this season and they will favour rucking rather than mauling against a Brive side who boast a powerful, mauling back row.