Casadei hoping for return to Brive's best days

Casadei is still revered in Brive as one of the famous XV that brought home the Heineken Cup in 1997. He also went on to play in the team that reached the final the following season, before losing by a single point to Bath in Bordeuax.

In fact, that single-point defeat as the only time Casadei ended up on a losing side with Brive in Europe over two wonderful seasons. In all, he played 15 times for Brive in the Heineken Cup and drew one, 29-29 with Pontypridd, and lost one to Bath.

It is 15 years since Brive were held in awe around Europe for their success in the Heineken Cup and those greats days are still very much in mind for Casadei.

"I remember the final in Cardiff. We were the underdogs because Leicester had just scored nearly 40 points past Toulouse in semi-final," said Casadei.

"We played in a hostile stadium with 25,000 English fans against us. We spent the week hearing how they would eat us for breakfast, but that just motivated us even more and we produced the game of our lives!

"Brive had never won French titles and only Toulouse had won the Heineken Cup. It was magic, the best memory of my career - even more beautiful than the Grand Slam I won the same year with France."

There is now a genuine feeling that the small town club are on the verge of a major comeback having reached the final four of the Amlin Challenge Cup after emerging from Pool 5 unbeaten and edging past the Scarlets at the quarter-final stage.

They now face European giants Biarritz Olympique at Stade Aguilera on Saturday, in the second of two all-French semi-finals.

"I am very proud of the team. The last final for Brive was in 2000, for the Trophée du Manoir, and now we are in a semi-final. To get here we had to win seven games and had to beat Agen, Sale Sharks and the Scarlets," added Casadei.