We must learn from Magpies, warns Blues chief

Apr 2 2008 Western Mail

DAVID YOUNG last night warned his Blues not to adopt the laissez-faire attitude of Newcastle United when they face Toulouse in a plum Heineken Cup quarter-final on Sunday.

The Blues will head for a 35,009 sell-out Le Stadium in the French city with coach Young hoping his message will be drummed into minds before the biggest match in the region’s history kicks off.

The former Wales captain used soccer club Newcastle, circa 1996, as an example of what they mustn’t do against the record three-time European kings.

“We can’t go over there to Toulouse with the Newcastle mentality of they are going to score 20 so we are going to score 25,” rapped Young.

He was referring to the first reign of Kevin Keegan as manager at St James’ Park, when their defensive shortcomings saw them blow a healthy lead at the top of the Premiership and gift the title to arch-rivals Manchester United.

Newcastle’s thriller with Liverpool on 3 April 1996 – the Blues face Toulouse on April 6 although they hope it’s not an omen of the wrong kind – went down in history as the game in which their addiction to glorious football cost them dearly.

The Magpies led 3-2 thanks to the magical attacking of Faustino Asprilla, Les Ferdinand and David Ginola with time running out.

But their generosity at the back allowed Liverpool forward Stan Collymore to strike twice and steal victory in the fragments of injury time.

Newcastle, so to speak, were winning the championship at one end of the field but relinquishing it at the other.

On the rugby field, the Scarlets adopted a similar approach to defensive duties at the pool stage of last season’s Heineken Cup but got away with it thanks to their attacking finesse.

They beat London Irish 32-25, Ulster 21-15 and Toulouse 20-19 at Stradey Park. But the classic encounter which summed up their all-or-nothing approach took place in the return with Toulouse.

By the time French international full-back Clément Poitrenaud scored his fourth try early in the second half, Toulouse were 21 points ahead.

But the Scarlets hit back with a display of extraordinary attacking rugby as they ran riot in the second half.

With the score 34-34 they conjured up a match-winning try for replacement back-row forward Nathan Thomas in injury time, Stephen Jones converting, to steal the spoils 41-34.

The Scarlets had played their get-out-of-jail card and made the great escape. Young, though, was quite rightly adamant the Blues cannot expect an action replay from Toulouse next weekend.

No, not for him the liberal approach of Keegan’s Newcastle or Phil Davies’ Scarlets.

“We have got to stop Toulouse scoring, that’s the first thing,” blasted Young, before predicting, “They will throw caution to the wind.

“Toulouse will continue to give you opportunities because they will try things. Their game with the Scarlets was really high-scoring.

“Even though Toulouse went well in front they continued to attempt to play and made mistakes.

“We have got to capitalise on their mistakes without giving ourselves a mountain to climb. That’s the mindset our players have got to adopt.

“We don’t want to be conservative because that’s not our style but we have to be accurate.

“We have got to go to Toulouse and be bold, look to score tries and get the scoreboard ticking over.

“But, as well as that, we can’t forget about defending, we have got to make sure they don’t rack a score up.”

Young will name his line-up on Friday with his only quandary being over who to play at outside-half.

Wales international Nicky Robinson got about 20 minutes of action during the Blues’ significant morale-boosting 20-0 victory away at Edinburgh in the Magners League last weekend.

But promising No 10 Dai Flanagan, orchestrator of Euro success over French champions Stade Francais and EDF Energy glory at Bath, impressed during the opening hour at Murrayfield and might get the nod for their Toulouse mission.

Young was happy with the way the Blues bounced back from their 35-17 setback against Scotland’s top side.

“The Edinburgh game was just the performance we needed going into a big week,” he said.

“We were all disappointed after the Scarlets match. I’m not taking anything away from them, but with four or five key players coming back into the team for Edinburgh it showed what a difference they can make.

“I thought it was a complete and professional performance; the only downside is we didn’t get the bonus point which we should have got, but that’s probably being a bit picky.

“With the Grand Slam players (Martyn Williams, Tom Shanklin and Gethin Jenkins), Paul Tito and Tom James all returning it shows what a big part they play in the team. Take five or six players of that quality out they are hard to replace.”

Toulouse notched up a 12-6 win against Biarritz but have been edged out of top spot in the French Championship by Clermont Auvergne.

Young acknowledged, “It will be a massive hurdle for us this week but one we are all looking forward to.

“We are certainly going up in standard of who we are playing against. Toulouse haven’t got their standing in the Heineken Cup by chance, they’ve earned it.

“They are always in the top four or five in Europe and have a galaxy of world stars. We know that on any given day they can put teams to the sword.

“We are very respectful of what they can do, but are concentrating on ourselves. We’ve got to go out there and not sit back and not try to lose the game.

“We’ve got to go out there and try to win it by taking the game to them. I think it suits us better to move the ball as that is the style we like to play.

“We need a little bit of luck as every team does, but it’s a challenge we are running towards not away from.”

More than 1,000 Blues supporters will descend on south-west France to watch the match and might have another trip to the other side of the English Channel should their heroes advance to the last four.

The Blues would face the winner of London Irish or Perpignan in the semi-finals on April 26 or 27. If it was London Irish, it would be at Twickenham while an encounter with Perpignan would take place in Montpellier.