Ribbans: We can be dangerous in Europe
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David Ribbans is bullish about Northampton being able to repel the forthcoming French and Irish threats as Chris Boyd’s team prepare to do battle on the European front.
The South African lock sees little reason why in-form Saints cannot continue their free-scoring, freeflowing ways, which have lifted them to third place in the Premiership, when Racing 92 visit Franklin’s Gardens on Friday.
Ribbans and his team-mates then face a trip to Ulster for the second game in another Covid-affected revamped Champions Cup, with 24 teams separated into two pools and playing four games each, trying to progress to a last-16 knockout phase.
Saints made light work of Bath on Saturday, running in six tries in a win which leaves their opponents rooted to the bottom of the table with just four points and nine successive Premiership losses.
Attention now turns to trying to mount a successful European campaign, and Ribbans said: “The way the competition is structured this season, the first two games are even more important than usual. Racing and Ulster are two great teams, but we know that Saints on our day can get victories quite easily.
“Having a top French side first up at the Gardens is exciting and allows us to test ourselves against the best. They play classic French rugby with big ball-carriers in their pack and all the flair in the world out the back.
“The game will be won and lost up front, so I expect they will try to come for our pack. Therefore we will need to be right on our own game. But the front eight has been going strongly domestically and I don’t see it as extra pressure, just real excitement and the challenge to show what we can do. We want to compete for both trophies and this will be another step towards trying to achieve that.
“We have so much pace and talent outside that we can really hurt teams. There’s no reason why we shouldn’t be a dangerous team in Europe with so much firepower.”
Bath must somehow galvanise themselves for their daunting opening two European challenges, away to Leinster on Saturday and at home to La Rochelle the week after. And, with half-backs Danny Cipriani and Ben Spencer injured at Northampton and struggling to be fit, a despairing season shows little sign of a positive rebound.
Stuart Hooper, the director of rugby, said: “Europe is the best competition in the world and playing Leinster at the Aviva is one of the best games you will play. We have to roll our sleeves up and go again.”