Nallett hands Wasps favourites tag
Mon, 06 Oct 2008 14:10
Captain Lionel Nallet says he believes all the pressure will be on Wasps on Sunday when his Castres Olympique team travels to London for their Heineken Cup opening encounter.
Nallet says his team have already achieved something special simply by qualifying for the tournament and are now looking forward to the challenge of testing themselves against some of the giants of the European game.
"The French clubs try to finish within the top six domestically to qualify for the Heineken Cup so that just shows how popular this tournament is and how they all want to face the best European teams," Nallet said.
"London Wasps are one of those major teams and playing them in the first round will certainly throw us straight in at the deep end.”
Wasps of course already find themselves under pressure domestically after a very poor start to the new seasons sees them in 10th place on the GP log after five rounds and with just the single win to their name. Despite all that though the star studded London side will still be favourites for the fixture, something Nallet is clearly not upset about.
"On top of that [facing a strong team] we will be playing away from home so we will approach the game with modesty, without any great pressure and largely trying to gain confidence.
"As for their players, they have several big internationals in their squad and the danger can really come from all angles.
"They are solid up front and their backs are good too - Wasps are a typically strong, complete European team who show good qualities right across the field."
The French captain does though believes his team are capable of surprising many people if they get things right and is looking forward to playing with greater freedom while people have such low expectations of them.
"Our main objective this season is to find some confidence again and reassure ourselves against the best European teams considering our poor start in the Top 14,
"We need to prove we can achieve things in another tournament. We still have some bad habits that we need to change and the players need to work on that aspect.
"And we can do this without any great pressure because no-one expects us to achieve anything so we have no real obligation to get results.
"The players will take advantage of this competition and play without constraints and enjoy a more flexible style of play to express themselves and try things.”
