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'They're big human beings, to put it mildly - they're strong, and they've got a certain way of playing'

Montpellier Herault don't like for size

Toby Flood says Newcastle Falcons will try to neutralise Montpellier’s power game when they travel to the south of France for Saturday’s Heineken Champions Cup clash.

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The Falcons have already beaten Montpellier once this season thanks to a remarkable winning try eight minutes into added time at Kingston Park Stadium back in October, Callum Chick eventually grounding the ball from a 38-phase passage of play.

“They’re a star-studded squad with one of the biggest budgets in France, if not the biggest, but as we showed by beating them at Kingston Park, if you do things well and get your game right, they’re beatable,” said Flood, who spent three seasons with Toulouse before re-joining his home town club in the summer of 2017.

“They’re big human beings, to put it mildly – they’re strong, and they’ve got a certain way of playing.

“Don’t get me wrong, they can light it up as well as using their power game, but it’s all about generating that go-forward through their big pack and their defensive aggression. They want to bottle you up and stop you from playing, and to make it a bit of a fight.

“It’s a tough one and we have to be clever about how we try to play around them, and what we do with our ball in play. Being able to bludgeon a team is not the sexiest rugby in the world, but it’s exciting to have the challenge of trying to combat that with our own style.”

Eligible for selection this weekend after missing the home loss to Harlequins with a head knock, the 60-times-capped fly-half explained: “It was a bit of an odd one because I actually felt fine at end of the Bristol game, and it wasn’t until the back end of last week that I began to feel unwell and a little bit unsteady.

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“That’s behind me now though, the medical staff have been great as always and all the necessary tests and protocols have been passed without any problem for this weekend, so I’m available if selected.”

Newcastle have already won on French soil this season courtesy of their round-one triumph in Toulon, Flood insisting his side have a virtual free hit against a Montpellier side packed with international stars.

“Not many people go over to these big French teams expecting to get a result, but we’ve done it already this season in Toulon and we’ve got nothing to lose,” he said.

“We’ve still got a chance of going through to the quarter-finals so it’s really important we go over there and give a good account of ourselves, and as Castres proved in the Top 14 final last season, Montpellier can be vulnerable.

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“It’s a great place to play, it’s a lovely town and I’m sure our supporters who are heading over there will have a brilliant weekend.

“But it’s an odd place at times, and if the fans don’t feel their team are performing they will start to turn on them, which is really important factor for us to remember. If we’re ahead at half-time they’ll get booed off or it will be near silence, and it’s a great challenge for us to go over to France again and try to record another victory.”

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f
fl 2 hours ago
Why Les Kiss and Stuart Lancaster can lead Australia to glory

“Why do you downplay his later career, post 50? He won a treble less than two years ago, with a club who played more games and won more games than any other team that managed the same feat. His crowning achievement - by his own admission.”

He’s won many trebles in his career - why do you only care about one of them?

I think its unsurprising that he’d feel more emotional about his recent achievements, but its less clear why you do.


“Is it FA cups or League cups you’re forgetting in his English trophy haul? You haven’t made that clear…”

It actually was clear, if you knew the number he had won of each, but I was ignoring the league cup, because Germany and Spain only have one cup competition so it isn’t possible to compare league cup performance with City to his performance with Bayern and Barcelona.


“With Barcelona he won 14 trophies. With Bayern Munich he won 5 trophies. With City he has currently won 18 trophies…”

I can count, but clearly you can’t divide! He was at Barca for 4 years, so that’s 3.5 trophies per year. He was at Bayern for 3 years, and actually won 7 trophies so that’s 2.3 trophies per year. He has been at City for 8 completed seasons so that’s 2.25 trophies per year. If in his 9th season (this one) he wins both the FA cup and the FIFA club world cup that will take his total to 20 for an average of 2.22 trophies per year.


To be clear - you said that Pep had gotten better with age by every metric. In fact by most metrics he has gotten worse!

182 Go to comments
f
fl 4 hours ago
Why Les Kiss and Stuart Lancaster can lead Australia to glory

“He made history beyond the age of 50. History.”

He made history before the age of 50, why are you so keen to downplay Pep’s early career achievements? In 2009 he won the sextuple. No other manager in history had achieved that, and Pep hasn’t achieved it since, but here you are jizzing your pants over a couple of CL finals.


“If continuing to break records and achieve trophies isn't a metric for success”

Achieving trophies is a metric for success, and Pep wins fewer trophies as he gets older.


“He's still competing for a major trophy this year. Should he get it, it would be 8 consecutive seasons with a major trophy. Then the world club cup in the summer.”

You’re cherry picking some quite odd stats now. In Pep’s first 8 seasons as a manager he won 6 league titles, 2 CL titles, & 4 cup titles. In Pep’s last 8 seasons as a manager (including this one) he’s won 6 league titles, 1 CL title, & 2 (or possibly 3) cup titles. In his first 8 seasons he won the FIFA world club cup 3 times; in his last 8 seasons he’s won it 1 (or possibly soon to be 2) time(s). In his first 8 seasons he won the UEFA super cup 3 times; in his last 8 he won the UEFA super cup once. His record over the past 8 seasons has been amazing - but it is a step down from his record in his first 8 seasons, and winning the FA cup and FIFA club world cup this summer won’t change that.


Pep is still a brilliant manager. He will probably remain a brilliant manager for many years to come, but you seem to want to forget how incredible he was when he first broke through. To be clear - you said that Pep had gotten better with age by every metric. That was false!

182 Go to comments
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