Ben Kayser, the former Stade Francais Paris hooker and now a key member of the Leicester Tigers squad, knows better than most just how tough a nut Toulouse are to crack on home territory
Ben Kayser, the former Stade Francais Paris hooker and now a key member of the Leicester Tigers squad, knows better than most just how tough a nut Toulouse are to crack on home territory and the massive challenge awaiting the Tigers at Le Stadium on Sunday in their Round 4 Pool 6 showdown.
The Tigers took the first contest 14-9 but Toulouse went home with a losing bonus point.
"We cannot afford to lose that away game," said Kayser. "We have to give it all we have to try and produce the best possible performance. We must build up some momentum because just putting pressure on in defence and dominating up front won't be enough to beat them on Sunday.
"To play back-to-back games isn't a problem at all. On the contrary, I do not think I could hope for a better situation; playing in a clash of two stylish and talented teams.
We managed to win at home in the mud and rain but next week it's going to be another story when we travel to France. We have to work, play differently and be better at what we are doing to win that return leg.
"The Round 3 game was a top class match between two teams of equal talent in very difficult conditions - it could have gone either way. Although the most action occurred at the end of the game, they were significant. We managed to make the most of the chances we had so we can't say it was lucky we won that game.
"We were not surprised by the level of the Toulouse play. We expected a tough game considering the good shape they are in playing in the French championship. The performance of all their players was efficient and they caused us problems by offering a lot of movement - they were hard to catch."
And despite the Tigers ending Toulouse's 100 per cent record for the season, Tigers assistant coach Richard Cockerill knows the French club will be a different proposition at the 37,000-capacity Le Stadium.
"They are a world class team - certainly one of the teams who can win this tournament - and they are a better side than they were last year," he said.
"It was the first loss of the season for them - they had been to Biarritz and won there and are a good side - so we will take heart from the win but we also class ourselves as one of the big teams and we should have been better.
"Defensively we have been okay and in an ideal world we would like to have won without giving them a bonus point because come the end of the Pool stages and bonus points are going to be very important.
"We know we have plenty to work on as their back line certainly looked sharp and dangerous - give them the space and opportunities to counter attack and they will cause problems.
"We need to win all our games - second is not going to be good enough in this group - and to win in Toulouse we will need to do everything right and stop them playing.
"I am not praying for poor weather as we are a good enough side to go there and win but we do need to get other bodies back on the field and select from a full compliment and if we had Geordan (Murphy) and Lewis (Moody) back in the mix that would help.
"But we know if we win on Sunday then we will have put ourselves in a very good position to top the group."
