Noves treating Connacht with due caution

WATCHING AN admittedly reshaped Toulouse side struggle to find any real sustained rhythm or control over Gloucester last week, it was striking how much of the team, including its spine, was from overseas. Not so today, for in making 10 changes, Guy Noves has gone native.

The four-time European champions will call on much of their indigenous talent and experience for a game Noves is both clearly wary of and has targeted for a vital win on the road. All but two of his starting line-up are French, and most places you look – be it the electric back three of Maxime Medard, Clement Poitrenaud and Vincent Clerc, or the equally long-standing midfield partnership of Yannick Jauzion and Florian Fritz – experience abounds.

For his part, Eric Elwood – who has likened this game to Crawley Town hosting Manchester United in the FA Cup – has limited his changes to one, although as this sees Mike McCarthy revert to the backrow alongside John Muldoon and George Naoupu, with David Gannon called into the secondrow (Ray Ofisa drops to the bench after sustaining a neck injury last week) Connacht clearly intend meeting muscle with muscle.

Inspired by making their long-awaited debut in the competition away to Harlequins last week, Connacht’s physicality was markedly up on previous outings in the Pro 12. With the enormous pride on show for this huge occasion in the province’s history, one imagines the Portumna man Muldoon and co will lead the way up front again. They will need to.

For all of Toulouse’s undoubted flair, their scrummaging, mauling, driving close-in game has been transformed under their former hooker Yannick Bru, whom the club have confirmed may become part of the French coaching ticket under the recently-appointed Philippe Saint-André, but on the proviso that he also sees out the season with les rouges et noirs.

The return of their pack and scrum leader William Servat only enhances the mix, although admittedly Yohan Montes’ promotion to loosehead instead of World Cup finalist Jean-Baptise Poux will not strengthen their scrum.

That said, Poux will be on the bench, along with Springboks’ hooker Gary Botha, French lock Romain Millo-Chluski, Yannick Nyanga and highly promising number eight Gillian Galan.

In what is likely to have a significant bearing on the outcome, Noves has always turned to his replacements more readily than most, and while Connacht’s bench is relatively strong too with the hard-edged Ofisa joining TJ Anderson and the experienced Frank Murphy and co, the sheer quality Toulouse possess looks unrelenting.

Toulouse held their captain’s run at tea-time yesterday but even they will never have experienced anything quite like this. It’s worth noting that Connacht have won their last seven matches in Europe, albeit in the less rarified surrounds of the Challenge Cup.

For Connacht to make this truly competitive, keep the crowd in the game and rattle Toulouse’s cage, it’s imperative they start well and if those wonderful piano shifters Muldoon, Mike McCarthy and Michael Swift can draw a few lines in the sand then they’ve every chance.

For all their Euro exploits, the French standard-bearers are, well, still French, and can be made to feel uncomfortable by a fired-up home side.

That said, it’s hard to see where Connacht can really hurt them, all the more so given the defensive solidity which the Jauzion-Fritz partnership provides against the Connacht tyros. That said too, Lionel Beauxis wouldn’t come from the Jonny Wilkinson school of tackling.

In the heel of the hunt, even if Connacht are in the mood to die with their boots on, more than anyone Toulouse can, more readily than most, suddenly spring into vibrant and deadly life out of seemingly nothing.

That, as much as anything else, is what sets them apart.

CONNACHT: G Duffy; T O’Halloran, E Griffin, D McSharry, B Tuohy; M Nikora, P O’Donohoe; B Wilkinson, A Flavin, R Ah You, M Swift, D Gannon, M McCarthy, J Muldoon, G Naoupu. Replacements: E Reynecke, R Loughney, D Rogers, T Anderson, R Ofisa, F Murphy, N O’Connor, H Fa’afili.

TOULOUSE: C Poitrenaud; M Medard, F Fritz, Y Jauzion, V Clerc; L Beauxis, L Burgess; Y Montes, W Servat, C Johnston, G Lamboley, Y Maestri, J Bouilhou,, T Dusautoir, L Picamoles. Replacements: G Botha, J Poux, J Falefa, R Millo-Chluski, N Vergallo, Y Nyanga, L McAlister, G Galan.

Referee: Greg Garner (England).

Betting (Paddy Powers): 4/1 Connacht, 22/1 Draw, 1/6 Toulouse. Handicap odds (Connacht + 10pts) 10/11 Connacht, 25/1 Draw, 10/11 Toulouse.

Forecast: Toulouse to win.