Skipper Xavier in a Rush to fire Blues to Euro glory

Jan 14 2008 by Simon Thomas, Western Mail

BLUES skipper Xavier Rush has hailed Sunday’s showdown with Bristol as a fitting conclusion to their Heineken Cup group campaign.

Victory at the Memorial Stadium would take the pool-topping Arms Park outfit through to the quarter-finals for the first time since as a region.

Bristol and Stade Francais, who are away to Harlequins, are also still in the hunt for a last-eight spot, so it all has the makings of a super Sunday finale in Pool 3.

“It all comes down to the last game, which is great,” said Rush. “It’s what the competition is about.

“We always knew it was going to be a tight pool and any one of three sides can still go through. To be there at the death and to have it in front of us is great.

“Bristol is a very tough place to go, but we are looking forward to another big challenge.”

The Blues put themselves in pole position in their group by beating Harlequins 23-12 on Friday night, with Kiwi No 8 Rush being named man of the match.

“I thought we were very good playing into the wind in the first half,” said the former All Black.

“The pack did another great job and we all enjoy playing for each other.

“At the start of the second half, we couldn’t get much territory and Harlequins put pressure on us. But it was just a matter of getting the ball down there and Ben Blair put over a couple of penalties to make it safe.

“We will tweak a few little areas now and build up for another big game.”

Blues head coach Dai Young believes pace will be the key to beating Bristol and securing a quarter-final spot.

“They are a very good team and it looks like they pushed Stade all the way in Paris,” he said.

“It’s going to be a big test for us. We have got to dictate the pace of the game.

“If it’s a slow, set-piece-orientated game, it will play into their hands. We’ve got to up the tempo.

“They have got to start as favourites, but we will look forward to it.

“It’s going to be a big occasion and, hopefully, we’ll get a lot of Cardiff fans over there.

“We will be going in with a little bit of confidence having turned things round after two poor performances and beating the Quins.

“We were pleased to get the result and we’ve got something to build on now.

“It’s put us in a position where we’ve got to go to Bristol and do a job.

“We’ve got one more big hurdle and we’ve got to make sure we get over that. If we do that, then we are through.”

Reflecting on the Arms Park victory over the Quins, Young said, “It wasn’t a perfect performance, but it was never going to be and it was the result that counted.

“Harlequins really pushed us and made us fight for it. We had a 10-minute spell where nerves were jangling a bit, but we didn’t panic and came through it.

“I was really pleased with the way we handled the situation when things could have gone wrong.

“Xavier was immense with ball in hand, he really led from the front.”

Bristol’s hopes of reaching the quarter-finals now look slim following their failure to come away with any points from Paris, where they lost 19-11 to Stade on Friday. But coach Richard Hill refuses to give up the fight.

“It’s a tough one, but we aren’t out of it. We’ll give it one last go,” he said.

“If we get it right next weekend and get five points, it could be enough.

“We gave Stade a scare. It looked like we might have a real chance of winning the game, but we didn’t controlled it like we should have done in the second half. But we weren’t disgraced. We just needed that extra five or 10 per cent in the second half.”