Sun-blest corner worth fighting for

In Focus / Biarritz:  The Hotel au Bon Coin is true to its name, the good corner hotel. It is simply designed in the Biarritz colours; the sun bouncing off the white walls, which are dotted by red shutters. A typically, quaint, old-style, unpretentious hotel/bar/restaurant, the Bon Coin prides itself on serving traditional and inexpensive French food. As befits the meeting place of the official Biarritz Olympique supporters' club, the walls in both the small bar and in the adjoining restaurant a split level below are festooned with snaps of countless rugby alumni.

Look hard at one of the small snaps pinned to the wall behind the counter, adjacent to the crammed counters of liqueurs, spirits, soft drinks and beers, and you can see Brian O'Driscoll and Denis Hickie posing in holiday mode.

The picture was taken several years ago when they were on a coaching visit to the nearby Rugbyandfrench campsite, for young Irish and English players, in Soustons.

The proprietor is a former Biarritz secondrow, Dominique Aguerre. Today he is marrying Caroline Monny from Pau, which perhaps suggests he didn't have a huge amount of confidence in his former club reaching their first Heineken European Cup final this afternoon.

In any event, the entire Biarritz squad will be returning to Biarritz this evening to attend the Aguerres' wedding celebrations. This perhaps highlights how homogenous and tight-knit the Biarritz rugby community is.

But Big Dom, even amid his nuptials, might be a little sidetracked by events elsewhere today.

"I will go to the church at midday and we will come back here to watch the match," he says smiling and nodding toward the plasma screen where the locals, having seen Biarritz thrash Montpellier earlier in the evening, eat and drink while watching live transmissions of the Castres-Bayonne match followed by the Crusaders against the Brumbies.

The plasma screen is the one gesture toward modernity.

For all the relatively polite hype in the town (a few flags fluttering in shop windows here and there) Aguerre readily cites the contrast in supporter volume.

"There are going to be 70,000 Irish there and we know that Biarritz are going to be under pressure," he say. "Our supporters are going to travel for 22 hours on a bus together, and 22 hours back."

As things stand, Biarritz have no Spanish sponsors but, says Aguerre, were they to win the European Cup they would be able to attract such sponsors, and - as he points out from a purely practical perspective - San Sebastien is the richest city in Spain.

Biarritz are accused of hjjacking the Basque flag, especially by their bitter rivals and neighbours Bayonne. The Basque "country" comprises three provinces in the south of France and four in the north of Spain and has its own language and identity - they are considered blood brothers to the Celts - and a strong sense of Catholicism.

The desire for independence is stronger in northern Spain, and with good reason. In 1937, the Luftwaffe sought to flatten the northern Spanish town of Guernica at the behest of the then fascist dictator of Spain, General Franco, so as to subjugate the nationalist and independent fervour of the Basques.

The strident desire for independence has been manifested in the guerilla movement ETA, which has now put down its arms and is negotiating with the central government in Spain for more local autonomy.

Biarritz, situated in the south-west of France and close to the Spanish border, has almost the feel of a Floridian retirement and tourist resort. Admittedly the local attractions include skiing and surfing.

By popular consent, Biarritz Olympique would hardly exist, much less as a European force, were it not for their former fullback Serge Blanco. After they were relegated for one year to the second division in 1996, Blanco became president of the club and introduced a much more professional outlook.

When becoming president of the French clubs in 1998, Blanco promptly left the club in the safe hands of Marcel Martin, though as a figurehead and by his regular presence at the club his influence is still pronounced, not least in bringing in Cap Gemini as the main sponsor.

Martin admits he has practically no rugby-playing background. He studied in the USA and was too old to resume playing after being drafted into the French army in Algeria for three years.

He became a referee, even when based in England for three years, before becoming a Rugby World Cup director and member of the IRB for 11 years, where he was their first treasurer, also serving on the French Federation, whereupon Blanco invited him aboard Biarritz.

Earlier in the evening, Martin had broken off from some celebratory bread, wine and cheese in his office with Blanco and coach Patrice Lagisquet to accommodate his Irish visitor's request for an interview. At least in his 70s, he shuffles through the dressingroom and into a frugal office of sorts, with tables and chairs.

The gradual evolution into an established French and European force has been done "patiently", admits Martin, players having been lured as much by the quality of family life as by money.

Martin Gaitan, their currently injured Puma centre, admits he initially struggled to adapt from a city of 12 million in Buenos Aires, but now enjoys the way of life, and actually resides in Hotel au Bon Coin.

"You can go skiing, you can go surfing, you can visit Spain, and everybody knows everybody in Biarritz. It is very intimate," he says.

Monsieur Martin readily admits BO have tried to emulate Toulouse in club structures and backroom staff. They have added a 4,500-capacity stand at a cost of €5 million raised through the city council and private investment.

His is an unpaid, voluntary but demanding job. "I don't enjoy anything," he says. "It is a lot of work. I come to the office practically every day. Of course when you win, you are happy, when you lose, you are not. But it is not a question of enjoyment. I do it the most professional way I can."

He demands of his players that they deliver "as good a job as possible" and expanding on this he becomes more animated than at any stage in our 20-minute meeting.

"My drive has always been the same from the very first day," he says, starting to bang on the table.

"Because my first match as president we lost badly, and I was so furious with the players that I said, 'Look, let's make it very straight. I don't want you to fool around, you are paid," he says, with the loudest bang, "and I want you to deliver. Maybe you won't deliver the win, but you will deliver a good match. That's the only thing that concerns me'."

Ironically, all the more so given Blanco's assertions the Celtic nations are taking too big a cut out of the European Cup, last season's quarter-final "at home" to Munster was a major turning point in boosting income and drawing from a bigger pool of supporters, down into northern Spain as well.

Not permitted to play French championship games across the border, they were faced with a 12,000 capacity in their own stadium.

"If we had played Munster here last year, and as they would have been entitled to 25 per cent of the tickets, we would have 3,000 Irishmen here."

So instead they sold 8,000 tickets to Munster fans, and the fixture also appealed to the many French Basques who traditionally like to drive down to San Sebastien for some tapas and a weekend excursion. By the time the 32,000 capacity was reached for the quarter-finals and semi-finals this season against Sale and Bath, they were all supporting Biarritz.

That quarter-final against Munster is remembered fondly hereabouts. It was a major turning point in the fortunes of Biarritz, and Lagisquet speaks with real warmth and affection about renewing acquaintances with the "fantastic" Munster supporters.

Biarritz will take just 3,000 fans to their first final. "To the diehard supporters it is a financial constraint for them," explains Martin.

To the reigning French champions, the European Cup is a relatively recent phenomenon - the Bouclier du Brennus has maintained a stronger and century-long fascination for aspiring French players - but it is catching on, says Gaitan, not least in the Biarritz dressingroom. And now they are within three games of a momentous and historic double.

"For the people, yes," Gaitan admits of the prioritising of the domestic competition. "But I think for the players no, because last year we lost in the semi-finals. That was terrible, and I was surprised we won the French championship after that. But we did win the French championship so now for the players Europe is more important. Winning the Heineken Cup was our main objective, and this year the team is better."

They don't have anything like the intoxicating groundswell of populist support - but in their own way they're not unlike Munster.

Men on a mission, to be sure.