Old boy would relish return

RUGBY:Without getting ahead of ourselves, Leinster could meet Toulon at the RDS in the quarter-finals. GERRY THORNLEYtalks to Felipe Contepomi about a sort of homecoming

AS THINGS stand, Leinster would be in line to play host to Toulon in the quarter-finals, which of course would mean an emotional return to the place Felipe Contepomi used to call home for five seasons. There will always be a case for making him Leinster’s best import – Matt Williams bequeathed him to Declan Kidney from Bristol, though it would be under Michael Cheika the Puma flourished – and among the blue hordes he remains an iconic figure

“It will be tough because I know how good they are,” he said yesterday, smiling broadly at the possibility of meeting his former team-mates.

“Definitely it will be tough, but if we play them hopefully it’s in the final.”

Of course, we’re getting well ahead of ourselves here, but, either way, newcomers such as Toulon aren’t supposed to cut a swathe through established Euro superpowers such as Munster (12 quarter-finals in a row) or, for that matter, the Ospreys (three qualifications in a row).

As any of the travelling Red Army will confirm, Toulon is everything they say it is; a true rugby town which whips itself into a frenzy for home games.

And then you consider the reported annual salaries being paid to the likes of Jonny Wilkinson (€750,000), Carl Hayman (€600,000) and Contepomi (he left Leinster because they couldn’t match his four-year deal of a reputed €500,000 per year).

Given the Stade Felix Mayol holds only 14,800, the scale of the investment by club president Mourad Boudjellal in their multi-national squad gives coach Philippe Saint-André enough options to compete on both domestic and European fronts.

So it was that last season Toulon were able to reach the Amlin Challenge Cup final in their debut European season as well as the Top 14 semi-finals. Looking across the pools in the Heineken Cup, it’s quite conceivable they will be one of four French sides in the quarter-finals.

Coupled with the investment of other benefactors, the elite in the Top 14 has expanded, and where before the French cocked a collective snook at the Challenge Cup, it’s also highly possible they could have as many as five teams in that competition.

All of which will fuel the view there has been a Euro power-shift towards the French clubs. By contrast, the collective gnashing of teeth in the valleys could be deafening.

How far could Toulon go?

“I think there’s definitely a lot of quality in this team, but to win this Cup is something very special,” said Contepomi.

“We need to be really happy (with qualification) and I think we can. Once you get into the quarter-finals any one can win this Cup, but the truth is that history counts a lot in this competition. Toulon is a new team making their first steps in this competition, but still I think we proved, playing against Munster – one of those teams you can never rule out and one of the teams with the biggest history in this competition and they knew they had to come here and win – I think we beat them well.”

Perhaps Sunday’s win, and the scale of the occasion at the Stade Felix-Mayol – where hundreds congregated outside the entrance over an hour before kick-off to raucously greet the home squad as they arrived at the ground in almost deafening manner – can help Toulon sidestep history.

Contepomi has had decidedly mixed fortunes against Munster over the years, but he has now been part of both the Leinster and Toulon teams which have given Munster two of their most harrowing European defeats the last three years. If anyone should know the key to beating Munster, it is Contepomi.

“I played with Leinster many times against Munster, and Munster is a team that don’t do that many things, but what they do they do it really well. It’s obvious that they are a different team going forward and another team when they are going backwards, and we knew exactly that.

“If we wanted to win, or to be in contention in this game, we needed to start well, we need to stop their ball carriers, and I think our forwards made an excellent game.

“Every time that Paul O’Connell or Leamy, or whoever, wanted to take the ball forward, they were smashed backwards. I think that set the tempo. Munster have very good individuals, but if you don’t give them space, and you defend them well, and you take the ball out of them, I think they are beatable – as Leinster have beaten them the last few times and we did today.”

“The plan was to play high-tempo rugby, not to give the ball to Munster, and when they have the ball just to smash them in defence, and I think the defence worked. If you see how many tackles our forwards made and the way they did it, they just put them down on the ground. And if you want to play against Munster we noticed that when we played down there we were in another league in winning the one-to-one battles, and today we came out on top in that area. That’s where the game was won, I think.”

Contepomi had off-the-ball run-ins with his usual foes, Ronan O’Gara, Denis Leamy and Donncha O’Callaghan. He and the aforementioned trio did shake hands warmly enough after the full-time whistle, and, whether true or not, he denied the win was more special for him given his personal history.

“No, for me what is special is that it’s Toulon’s first year in the Heineken Cup and we’re in the quarter-finals. And coming out of a pool – I think everybody rated Toulon out of this pool. When you see the teams of Munster, Ospreys with big histories in this competition and London Irish and us, no one I think rated Toulon to come out of this pool.

“We are one game to play and we are out of this pool, so it is a great achievement for us.”