March Preview

March is a big month, a lot of high-pressure rugby to be played which is why I’ve decided to make the most of next weekend (still on holiday) and come home for a long weekend to recharge the batteries before the final push for the play-offs. We are already very well set for qualification but we have set ourselves the goal of winning the pool. If we are 1^st in our pool then the first knock-out round becomes much easier as we’d be playing a 4^th placed team from another pool. So there are 6 pool games to be played.

March looks like this:

Sunday 6th March:	Racing Metro	Bourgoin
Sunday 13th March:	Racing Metro	US Bressanne
Sunday 20th March:	RC Massy Essonne	Racing Metro
Sunday 27th March:	Racing Metro	Clermont Auvergne

The fixture list has worked out well for us as we welcome Bourgoin and Clermont to Paris second-time round. We could have beaten Bourgoin earlier in the season in the Alps but lost our heads and then the scrum was infamously demolished in Clermont (since rebuilt, we think...). So we are genuinely confident about turning these teams over at Colombes. Massy are unknown abroad but very well respected for their junior section, alma mater of Mathieu Bastareaud. Bressanne should provide some respite in March as we put 69 points past them at their place.

Into April, we have to fit in our one cancelled game – a trip to Dijon and then the Pool finale against Stade Francais. Despite a run of indifferent form I have been training well and with the nice balance of rest and work in the next couple of weeks I should be peaking for the pressure games at the end of the season.

In seasons past my form has decreased as the season has progressed, starting with a bang then heading down but this season it feels different, mainly because I was never going to start the season with a bang given all the change and upheaval at the start of the season. So I’m looking forward to catching up with Edinburgh next weekend and then returning ready for 4 wins out of 4 in March.