Flood: We will take battle to Montpellier
TOBY Flood says Newcastle Falcons will try to neutralise Montpellier’s power game when they travel to the south of France for tomorrow’s Heineken Champions Cup clash.
The Falcons have already beaten Montpellier once this season thanks to a remarkable winning try eight minutes into added time at Kingston Park Stadium in October, Callum Chick eventually grounding the ball from a 38-phase passage of play.
Flood, who spent three seasons with Toulouse before re-joining his home town club in the summer of 2017, said: “They are a star-studded squad with one of the biggest budgets in France, if not the biggest, but as we showed by beating them at Kingston Park, if you do things well and get your game right they are beatable.
“They are big human beings, to put it mildly – very strong and they have t a certain way of playing.
“Don’t get me wrong, they can light it up as well as using their power game, but it is all about generating that go-forward through their big pack and their defensive aggression. They want to bottle you up and stop you from playing and to make it a bit of a fight.
“It is a tough one and we have to be clever about how we try to play around them, and what we do with our ball in play. Being able to bludgeon a team is not the sexiest rugby in the world but it’s exciting to have the challenge of trying to combat that with our own style.”
Eligible for selection this weekend after missing the home loss to Harlequins with a head knock, the 60-times-capped fly-half added: “It was a bit of an odd one because I actually felt fine at end of the Bristol game and it was not until the back end of last week I began to feel unwell and a little bit unsteady.
“That is behind me now, though, the medical staff have been great as always and all the necessary tests and protocols have been passed without any problem for this weekend, so I am available if selected.”
Newcastle have already won on French soil this season courtesy of their round-one triumph in Toulon, Flood (right) insisting his side have a virtual free hit against a Montpellier side packed with international stars.