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Jeanjean Out of Cup Final

Jeanjean Out of Cup Final

Nicolas Jeanjean is out of the Heineken Cup final – but Toulouse are confident they can ride his loss in their all-French Dublin showdown with Perpignan on May 24th (kick-off 3.00 pm).

Nicolas Jeanjean is out of the Heineken Cup final – but Toulouse are confident they can ride his loss in their all-French Dublin showdown with Perpignan on May 24th (kick-off 3.00 pm).

Full back Jeanjean suffered a torn hamstring in last weekend’s 34-20 victory over Biarritz Olympique and prop Patrice Collazo is also a concern with foot damage but Guy Noves,,/b> head coach of the 1996 Heineken Cup champions, declared,
“We have a big enough squad to cope with this sort of thing.”

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Meanwhile Perpignan will head south of the border this week to a golf and leisure complex to prepare for their first appearance in the showpiece occasion, taking the chance to rest weary bodies and get in the right frame of mind.

They are confident major injury worries Phil Murphy, John Daniell and Christophe Manas will all report fit for selection.Olivier Saisset.

“We also need to go into the final with clear heads and a positive attitude.
A final is not over until the final whistle goes – but you can lose a final before it starts if you are not in the right frame of mind.

“However, our position in the French Championship is such that our 26-22 win over Agen means our match against Grenoble this coming weekend is now not such a vital one and we can prepare for Dublin with greater calm.”

Speaking about the final, Perpignan captain Bernard Goutta (pictured) spoke of his side’s particular delight at getting past Leinster.
“We are delighted because everyone thought we were a small team and no-one gave us a chance of making it to the final, even Leinster who thought they were better than us.

“People said, yes we had achieved something at Llanelli but we were lucky there in that they were playing with 14 men for most of the match. Now we have achieved something because no-one believed in us. So much so that I had a job to motivate the players before the match.

“What we have achieved is huge. We were in the Pool of Death with Munster and Gloucester, we have played both our knock-out games away from home and no-one had scored three tries against Leinster – until us! It is amazing.”