Holah ready for Heineken challenge

Jan 18 2008 by Simon Thomas, Western Mail

MARTY HOLAH has never experienced Heineken Cup rugby in France before – but he does know all about playing in hostile environments.

So the Ospreys’ former All Blacks flanker has an inkling what lies in store for him at Bourgoin’s Stade Pierre Rajon this weekend.

“I’ve heard a little bit from other players how excited and animated the crowd can be in France,” he said.

“I suppose there are similarities between that and playing through some parts of South Africa.

“Playing at places like Loftus Versfeld and Cape Town, the crowd are right next to you.

“They are only metres away and baying for your blood at times.

“I enjoy that. I sort of see it as a challenge.

“New Zealand teams have their haka and some other people have their crowd.

“I guess Bourgoin will be like any French side.

“They will be keen to kick and they will look for opportunities to move the ball with a bit of flair.

“They have nothing to lose, which makes them a bit dangerous.”

The trip to Bourgoin, which is situated just outside Lyon in the foothills of the Alps, is just the kind of experience that Holah travelled to Europe to savour.

And the prize on offer is a huge one, as victory will earn the Ospreys a place in the quarter-finals for the first time.

“The Heineken Cup is one of the reasons I came here,” said the 31-year-old Kiwi.

“It was one of the things that encouraged me to come over here.

“The Heineken Cup is such a big competition and to play in it – let alone the possibility of going through to the quarter-finals – is something that excites us individually and collectively.

“While it's a big team goal, it was always a big personal goal to test myself against the best in Europe and the world.”

Reflecting on what he’s made of the competition, Holah said, “It’s been more of a mixed bag than what I’m used to in the Super 14, if I’m honest.

“A month ago we were playing on hard, firm grounds and enjoying good conditions.

“What we played in against Gloucester last week was something you don’t often get in the Super 14.

“It’s hard to put together 14 phases and run up big scorelines in those conditions, with the rain.

“It does test you personally, how you can adapt week in, week out.

“It’s had a bit of everything, tough forward play as well, which suits my style of play.

So it’s been good.”

Holah was one of the stand-out players in last weekend’s 32-15 victory over Gloucester at the Liberty Stadium, with his work at the breakdown driving the visitors to distraction.

But the 36-cap openside is keen to spread the praise around his team-mates.

“I actually thought it was an awesome, complete performance from the guys,” he said.

“Gloucester kicked really well at times, but the big difference between last Saturday's match and the one between the sides at Kingsholm was the way we dealt with their kicking game.

“The conditions were poor, but we managed to turn the pressure back onto them.

“When it got tough and into the nitty-gritty, we held our discipline and didn’t retaliate in the face of some of the things that were going on.

“Gloucester’s style of game is to bully, be physical and get on top of other forward packs, but when they didn’t achieve that they became frustrated and didn’t know what else to go to.”

Holah says discipline will be crucial again on Sunday when they enter Bourgoin’s intimidating backyard.

“It will be vitally important,” he said.

“I wasn’t a part of it, but I have heard a story that we gave away a penalty in the last minute against Stade Francais last season and that cost us the game. So we have to learn our lessons.

“And there was a positive lesson from last weekend as well, namely that if we can apply pressure, keep our cool and our discipline, it will work for us.”

Holah, who arrived from Waikato at the start of November, says it’s vital the Ospreys don’t rest on their laurels having performed so well last weekend.

“That’s the challenge for us,” he said.

“You are only as good as your last performance and we can talk about Gloucester as much as we want, about how well we controlled the game, but if we don’t back it up with a similar display this weekend it will be wasted.

“We spoke about that in our debrief and it will be an on-going theme through to the game.

“When you are leading into a big game, it’s often important to focus on the small things that are tangible instead of looking too far ahead and focusing too much on the result.

“If you take the emotion and the result out of it, it’s just a question of focusing on ourselves and our basic skills, going through our patterns and making sure we don’t get carried away with thoughts of making the quarter-finals, getting too fired up and seeing it as a big game.

“If we do get too wound up’ we will lose what we should focus on.”

The Ospreys will be without injured Welsh international hooker Richard Hibbard for the trip to Bourgoin, so Ed Shervington is drafted into a 22-man squad to provide back-up to Huw Bennett.

Ospreys (from): L Byrne, J Vaughton, M Taylor, S Parker, G Henson, N Walker, S Williams, J Hook, M Phillips, J Marshall; P James, D Jones, A Jones, H Bennett, E Shervington, I Evans, I Gough, AW Jones, R Jones (capt), J Thomas, F Tiatia, M Holah.