Newcastle hooker Rob Vickers remains confident that his Falcons side can push on to the quarter-finals and beyond in this season's Amlin Challenge Cup, as they prepare for Friday's trip to South-West France.
They will take on Albi at Stade Municipal in the penultimate match of the group stages, looking to build on their position as top dogs in the Pool 5 shakedown.“We’re looking forward to it,” said Vickers, who racked up his 50th appearance for the club in their historic first ever win at London Wasps’ Adams Park ground a fortnight ago.
“We’ve already played Albi once this season and beat them fairly well, but we’re aware of the physical threat they pose and we won’t be underestimating them over there in front of their home crowd.”
Despite lying bottom of the French Top 14 this season Albi have taken some notable scalps, and came within a whisker of defeating Brive last weekend in snowy conditions at their home ground.
“They’re a very big bunch of boys, especially in the pack, and there’s no getting away from their size.
“Having said that, if we can move the ball around a bit hopefully we can depower them and impose our own style onto the game a bit more.
“We go into every game expecting to win and confident in our own ability, but equally we know that playing a French team over there asks different questions of you and provides a different environment with the atmosphere the fans create at the French grounds.”
Looking for the win which would all but guarantee progression through to the last eight, Vickers said: “It’s very important that we retain control of the group going into the final round, and the only way to guarantee that is to win on Friday.
“From there we will be looking to push for a home quarter-final with a win in our last pool match against Padova, but we’re not getting ahead of ourselves and the focus is entirely on Albi.
“We definitely want the win, and from there we will be pushing hard for the bonus point.
“It won’t be easy over there and we know we will have to put the graft in to gradually build the score, but we’re confident in our ability to get the job done and keep progressing towards the quarter-finals.”
With his side’s record on the road being a major plus from a season which sees the Falcons in the top half of the domestic table, the Yorkshireman said: “In the past our home form has always been better than our away record, because teams don’t like coming to Kingston Park for whatever reason and travel has always been an issue with us being so far north.
“This season we seem to have turned the tables a bit, because our form away from home has overtaken our record at Kingston Park. The pitches we’ve played on have probably been a factor in that, because a firmer track does suit our running game more, but we’re desperately keen to improve our home record and turn it on for the supporters who come and watch us week in week out.”
