Narbonne told to target scrums
May 20, 2001

Former Brive boss Serge Lairle believes Narbonne can exploit Harlequins' weakness in the scrum in Sunday's Heineken Shield final.

Lairle, who stepped down as Brive coach this week, was in charge when they were beaten 20-13 by Quins in the quarter-finals of the competition.

But he saw enough to convince him that little-fancied Narbonne can better their more illustrious hosts at the Madejski Stadium in Reading.

He told la Depeche du Midi: "Their weak point in my opinion is the scrums. They have a very solid prop in Jason Leonard but they play a very dynamic game and so the scrums tend not to be a priority for them.

"The advantage that Narbonne have is there mentality and also the strength of their scrum.

"They must play the same game that they've been playing recently and put pressure on them as the Harlequins defence will not be able to withstand every attack."

He identified England centre Will Greenwood and Australia lock Garrick Morgan as the danger men and warned that ball-retention could be the deciding factor in the game.

He said: "Harlequins have a very good team on paper. They have the driving runs of Morgan up front and Greenwood in the backs. But by keeping hold of the ball and playing several phases of play they can cause them problems."

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