Tindall has eyes on Millennium glory
The Millennium Stadium will welcome the Heineken Cup once again this weekend as Cardiff Blues take on Gloucester in their crucial Pool Six encounter.
The Millennium Stadium will welcome the Heineken Cup once again this weekend as Cardiff Blues take on Gloucester in their crucial Pool Six encounter.
The last Heineken Cup game to be played here was last season's final, and whilst the occasion won't be quite as big on Saturday both sides know a victory is essential if they are to continue on the path to this season's final.
Both sides started their campaigns with wins – the Blues thrashed Calvisano 56-20 and Gloucester trumped Biarritz 22-10 – and know that Saturday will have a major bearing on their respective campaigns.
The importance of the occasion has not been lost on Gloucester captain Mike Tindall.
“This weekend is a really massive game – probably the most important game for us in the Pool stages,” said Tindall.
“The environment, the atmosphere and the whole occasion is going to be huge and hopefully we will find out what our boys are made of.
“And if you can't get up for a game against the Blues at the Millennium Stadium in front of a huge crowd then there is something wrong with you. How we turn up and how we get our game right will determine how we get on.
Despite not having seen much of the Blues this year Tindall knows, from last season's showings, that his side face a huge challenge.
However, it will be Gloucester's game that he and his team focus on the most as there is a belief that if they play to the best of their ability the result will take care of itself.
“I have not seen much of the Blues this season but last year I was impressed with the way they tried to play, so this week we will do our homework and analysis on them although we already know they have a lot of good ball-carriers and skilled players,” Tindall continued.
“What we are focusing on is trying to get our own stuff right as we know that if we do that we are good enough to come away with a win.”
The omens are good for Gloucester, given that they have never lost to the Welsh side in the Heineken Cup – three wins from three speaks for itself.
But Tindall knows if they are to keep that record they will need a far better display than they turned in against Biarritz last weekend.
“The win over Biarritz was a great start for us and the choices we made were the right ones although we were a bit disappointed we did not score a few more tries,” added Tindall.
“However, Biarritz seemed to get under the radar a bit at the breakdowns and that made our ball slower but they are an extremely physical team and I thought our pack was outstanding around the fringes and stood up to them.
“And there is still a long way to go in this tournament. We shot out of the traps last year, had a bad period through the winter and the game against Munster came a couple of weeks too early. This time we have to make sure we turn up at the end of the Pool stage of the tournament and get through our group and into the knock-out stages.”