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McKenzie aiming for Guazzini`s dream

Thursday 04th December 2008

Ewen McKenzie: enjoying himself

Stade Fran�ais are one of four teams to have suffered a double dose of Heineken Cup final despair, but they are the only one of those four never to have compensated for that with a dose of Heineken Cup final delight.

The Paris aristocrats walked off losers in 2001 and 2005 against Leicester and Toulouse respectively.

On Saturday they take on one of England's leading lights in Harlequins, in the first-ever Heineken Cup match to be hosted at the Stade de France.

The glorious stadium has hosted the side before in several matches, all a part of owner Max Guazzini's target of opening the club and the game up to the masses in Paris. It's a dream now being bought into by new coach Ewen McKenzie, who says his side must now take its chances for glory.

"One of the reasons I came to Stade Fran�ais is because of Max Guazzini's vision. The club is taking rugby in an exciting direction and being a part of that is great and I'm really enjoying myself," he said.

"Obviously we don't get to see most of the showbiz end of things as we're focussed on preparing for the match but it's still great to be a part of them.

While one or two key members of the Quins side were being bashed around by the All Blacks last week, many of the Parisians had the week off while a near-reserve team went to Biarritz and came back with a splendid victory. The French ought to be fresher, but then the Harlequins might be finer-tuned.

"I'm not sure that having our players back a week ahead of Harlequins has really given us much of an advantage," said Mckenzie.

"Sometimes, the anxiety that goes with going straight from one competition to another can work well for you and they are able to bank on their more experienced players being able to get their heads on very quickly, being able to intake information quickly and get into the game.

"Dean (Richards) has got the wear and tear of the extra Test but I'm not sure that's going to help us much on the day. We didn't want to put all of our internationals back in the squad for our league game last week so it's going to be tough on them all coming back for this game and, although they have had an extra week of rest, I don't think that will help in terms of the guys getting settled back into the squad.

"Deano's already started the mind games by saying that we are the best team in France! We certainly think we're one of the better teams and being the best is achievable but we need to be able to get the results even with key players out through international duty or injury so we have to be better in those circumstances.

"Even if we had some key players out last weekend, they were all hard at work in video sessions ready to tune the others into the match.

"And we know Harlequins have a great tenacity. To be 19-0 down against the Scarlets and then come back for the win shows their resilience and ability to play over 80 minutes.

"They use the ball really well, have a very complete team and are now really pushing at the top and will be disappointed with losses like that to Leicester a couple of weeks ago.

"They are able to roll with the punches and, like us, I think that they're pragmatic and understand that it's a long season in the league but that these games are pretty much all or nothing. We are ready - but I'm sure they are as well"