Director of rugby Brian Smith expects a hot reception for London Irish's return match against Perpignan in France next weekend.
London Irish boss expects a hot reception in Perpignan
London Irish director of rugby Brian Smith is expecting a hot reception when he takes his team to France for their return match against Perpignan next weekend.
Smith knows that the French club will be smarting from their 24-16 Heineken Cup defeat at the Madejski Stadium on Sunday.
And he is under no illusions that, after leaving London empty handed, they will be looking to avenge being denied a losing bonus point by Peter Hewat's late penalty.
He said: "It's going to be very tough down there, with an inexperienced Italian referee.
"I'm sure Perpignan will be revved-up - it's going to be a lions' den."
Ferrari
Smith was full of praise for veteran playmaker Mike Catt who shrugged of a back problem to play the full match.
The coach described 36-year-old fly-half as 'a Ferrari', albeit one that has been around the track a few times.
"We have to manage him carefully - Catty has only had 40 to 50 minutes training this week," Smith added.
"This morning we didn't know if he would play; at lunchtime he said he would give it a spin, and by five o'clock he'd played 80 minutes.
"It wasn't a terrific performance, but at the end he was still making the plays and retrieving situations.
"If you knew how bad his back was you would excuse him shanking a couple of kicks.
"He's a Ferrari. He's got a hell of a lot of miles on the clock but he's a competitor."
Although Irish have a five-point lead in the group, Smith is well aware that they still have plenty to do to ensure qualification for the quarter-finals.
"If you start looking at the table, it's a bit like clock-watching; it's a recipe for disaster," he said.
Fire
Perpignan skipper Perry Freshwater admitted his side need to improve their discipline after conceding two tries when their numbers were depleted by yellow cards.
The England World Cup prop said his side suffered frustrations with the language barrier.
"Sometimes the boys can lose their heads - and some of them do," he said.
"I don't want to take the fire out of the bellies of anyone, but we need to be less fiery.
"The boys, the coaches, everyone is up in arms as they often are - but it isn't about the ref. We need to go away and look at ourselves.
"You get a lot of frustration, because they can't talk to the ref and don't know why things happen - but we just have to learn to live with it.
"We've got to learn to react to different referees in different competitions."
Freshwater acknowledges next Saturday's rematch will be tough.
"We need a big game - the pressure is on. But it's difficult when you are chasing points," he added.
"We need a bonus-point win next week - and we need to win all our games now to qualify.
"London Irish are a very strong side, and they took their chances well."
