Thomas Castaignède
Monday May 15, 2006
The Guardian
For the English Biarritz equals the beach. To the French it means Serge Blanco. Sun, sand, sea - to holidaymakers it seems like a little paradise; for visiting rugby teams, however, it's a pretty hellish place and it's all down to the vision of one man: Blanco.The French championship-winning team, who will try to win their first European final on Saturday in Cardiff, is largely his baby.
A few years ago he told me he was trying to build something big in the Basque country and he felt the team were getting there. I wasn't too much of a believer and I have been eating humble pie for some time since. Blanco has created a phenomenal team and in getting to the European Cup final they have gone up another rung on the ladder.
There are things about Biarritz that will be familiar to any English rugby fan. Firstly the sense of local identity, which is stronger in that particular corner of France than in any other. Biarritz and their neighbouring club in the Championnat, Bayonne, have a rivalry that puts Bath and Gloucester, for example, well in the shade. Let's just say that when Bayonne beat Biarritz last year the club coach drove around Biarritz with its horn blaring, just to rub it in.
The two clubs are barely a mile apart but are both fighting for the honour of representing the Basque Country and they are chalk and cheese. Bayonne is the heart of the area, more working class; Biarritz has the nice suburbs with a more illustrious aura. But dare to say that Blanco is a Bayonnais and see what answer you get.
Another English parallel in Biarritz is that they have a sugar daddy, which is not common in France: Serge Kampf is one of the 10 richest men in France, boss of Cap Gemini, whose business is selling human intelligence such as computer support.
With his money and Blanco's vision Biarritz have travelled way above the level they reached when the great man was playing for them. To whip up local feelings even more, Biarritz's rise has been headed by a Bayonnais, the great former wing Patrice Lagisquet, as coach while another of their old rivals, Jean-Michel Gonzalez,was an iconic figure in their pack as captain and hooker.
Where Biarritz have really got it right in recent years is in their recruitment. Kampf's millions have been wisely spent. They have a knack of spotting hidden gems such as the fly-half Julien Peyrelongue, the lock Jérôme Thion and most notably Dimitri Yachvili, who blossomed only after he moved to the Basque Country.
He will, as ever, be the key man for them. You can expect Munster to target him mercilessly, knowing he is pretty much the Biarritz equivalent of their own Ronan O'Gara - one talented player among many who just gives that little bit extra.
Occasionally Biarritz have hired big names such as Imanol Harinordoquy or Damien Traille but by and large they have tended to let players go if their financial demands are too big, and they have brought in some handy Argentinians such as Martin Gaitan and Federico Martin Aramburu - not to mention Philippe Bidabé, the flying winger who has come from nowhere.
Biarritz are a handy mix of passionate support and careful recruitment that does not deserve the criticism some British papers have dished out. They did not play a great deal of attacking rugby in the knock-out stages but they are perfectly capable of it and we could see it on Saturday if the Millennium Stadium roof is closed.
Whether that will be enough to beat Munster is another question. Yachvili does somehow seem inspired whenever he appears on this side of the Channel and his club have had the experience of appearing in French finals but I would reluctantly back Munster, even though the Irish club will be under huge pressure because they have come close so many times and even though Biarritz beat them last year.
That win, most significantly, was in the Basque Country in San Sebastián and it was at a time when Munster were not as strong as they are now. Cardiff will be more of a "home" venue for the Irish than for the French, who will feel like the away team.
Biarritz are pretty much impregnable at home but we at Saracens saw they can be vulnerable away when they visited us at Vicarage Road. It's a French thing and it could count against them.
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