Rugby Union
Stopping Contepomi is key to Warriors victory

Buy photos » Dale Rasmussen believes victory over Stade Francais in Paris would rank as one of his best moments in his Warriors career. Picture by Ian Smith

LONG-SERVING centre Dale Rasmussen has revealed Worcester Warriors have identified Felipe Contepomi as the key Stade Francais player to stop if they are to stand any chance of making the quarter-finals of the Amlin Challenge Cup.

The Argentine fly-half was named man of the match in the reverse fixture at Sixways in November after knocking over six penalties to help his side to a 23-14 victory.

And Rasmussen believes he will be Stade's key man once again when the two sides meet in their group deciding clash at Stade Charlety in Paris on Saturday.

"We very quickly identified him as the man they go to," Rasmussen said.

"Everything revolves around him. This week we have been concentrating on ways to contain him and to put him at the forefront of our minds when we are on the field.

"He played at 12 when we played them here but he controlled the game like a 10 and he is going to play at fly half when we play them over there.

"He is a very good kicker and obviously a very smart footballer so we have got to try and nullify his influence in the game.

"We played Toby Flood a few weeks ago and we weren't too successful at containing him so hopefully we will go one better this time."

If Warriors secure victory with a margin of more than seven points against the French side to progress, the 34-year-old centre admitted it would rank as one of the best moments in his eight-year stint at Sixways.

"It is definitely up there with one of the biggest matches in my Worcester career," he said. "Playing in Paris, trying to defeat Stade who are a legendary club, would be huge as the result also pushes us in the direction of Heineken Cup qualification.

"It is going to be tough but by all accounts we are taking quite a contingent of fans over and we are very thankful of that. They are very vocal so it will be one hell of an atmosphere."