Caley Reds hope to brush up on French as pool reflects fluid tendencies

VISITORS to Pau in the French Pyrenees are not normally there to watch rugby; as the nearest large town to Lourdes, the Blackpool of the religious world, most tourists have their heights set higher.

So let’s get the rather tired old clich in right away: when David Aucagne and his side arrive at Hughenden today for the Pool 6 clash with Glasgow Caledonian Reds, the Caley coach Richie Dixon is looking for a miracle or two.

In the 1997-98 season Pau reached the semi-finals of the European Cup after beating Llanelli, Treviso and Edinburgh Caledonians in the group stages, walked all over Leicester in an astonishing one-sided 35-18 victory in the quarter-final and only lost narrowly to the eventual winners, Bath. Last year they took part in the European Conference, and went all the way to the quarter-final before losing to Narbonne 13-30.

The Reds cannot boast anything resembling a pedigree like that, but if the Scots did need evidence that everything in rugby may not always be as forecast, Pontypridd’s Pool 6 victory over Leicester at Sardis Road on Friday night may just have provided Dixon with an extra motivational factor in his team talk. As he had done against the Reds in the last pool match at Sardis Road, Ponty stand-off Lee Jarvis kicked Leicester to death with six penalties to rob Leicester of their 100% tournament record and throw the pool wide open.

The equation is simple for Dixon now: two victories over Pau in a week - today at Hughenden and in France on Saturday - would put the Reds on four points and in second place two points behind whoever wins between the English and Welsh sides on Saturday.

In both games between the French and the Scots, much will depend on the form of the respective half-backs in what could boil down to a kicking battle between Reds stand-off Mark McKenzie - playing in place of Tommy Hayes again - and the 15-times capped France internationalist David Aucagne. Graeme Beveridge, too, will have his hands full with the combative Philippe Carbonneau at scrum-half.

Elsewhere, Glenn Metcalfe plays on the left wing in place of the discarded James Craig with Jon Steel retaining his place on the right. Shaun Longstaff is on the bench while Rowen Shepherd, who will captain the side in the absence of Gordon Bulloch, takes the full-back’s jersey.

Centre James McLaren takes over from Iain Jardine at inside-centre, a move that some will see as a gamble after McLaren’s recent ankle surgery. But Dixon insists: "As far as I’m concerned, he’s as ready as he could be. It was going to be touch and go as to whether Iain would have been fit. We felt it would have been much more of a risk to take a chance on him for this particular match."

As with most Basque sides, Pau pack a considerable punch in the front five. The Reds have already lost Bulloch to a concussion-induced rest and his replacement, Gavin Scott, has also been ruled out with a bruised thigh. It means a late call-up for West of Scotland’s 22-year-old Carlo di Ciacca with under-21 prop Andrew Welsh coming on to the bench, a move that didn’t exactly fill Welsh’s club East Kilbride with joy.

President Bobby Dalgleish said: "Good luck to Andy, he deserves it, but a late call-up like that didn’t exactly please our coach Steve Blair. I know this is the price of success, but I think there should be such a thing as protocol.

"They should have given us more notice, as it is 24 hours before a key game against Stirling is not exactly fair.

"However, Andy has all our good wishes. He has been on the periphery of the professional sides for a bit, and I think he sat on the bench against one of the Welsh clubs last season. He is a talented lad with handling skills and a bit of pace."

Victory today is a reasonable expectation for the Reds; a win in Pau six days’ hence may need some of that divine intervention.

TEAMS: Glasgow Caledonians: Rowen Shepherd; Jon Steel, Alan Bulloch, James McLaren, Glenn Metcalfe; Mark McKenzie, Graeme Beveridge; David Hilton, Carlo di Ciacca, Gordon McIlwham, Stewart Campbell, Steve Griffiths, Jason White, Jon Petrie, Gordon Simpson. Replacements: Andrew Welsh, Alan Watt, Darren Burns, Martin Waite, Fraser Stott, Tommy Hayes, Shaun Longstaff.

Pau: Damien Traille; Pascal Bomati, Sylvain Guilhem, Jean-Charles Cistacq, Xavier Cambres; David Aucagne, Phillippe Carbonneau; Mathieu Larrouy, Marc Dal Maso, Sebastien Bria, Thierry Cleda, Alain Lagouarole, Abder Agueb, Eric Gouloumet. Lionel Maillier. Replacements: Phillippe Etchegaray, Joel Rey, Nicolas Bacque, Guillaume Combes, Bertrand Aurignac, Laurent Arbo, David Arrieta.

Today’s other Heineken Cup action sees Swansea, minus suspended Wales forwards Colin Charvis and Garin Jenkins, visiting L’Aquila, and Toulouse at home to Ulster.