EBBW Vale begin their European Shield challenge against Agen in France on Saturday with skipper Chay Billen (pictured) believing it can be a springboard to better things.

Two years ago a superb 21-19 win in Toulon formed the third rung of an impressive 14-match winning run which took Vale to the top of the Welsh/Scottish League at one point and to a Shield quarter-final.

Now Billen says: "If we can win in Agen, there's no reason why we can't look to do what we did two years ago.

"It will be tough. A French side away is not the ideal way to start a European campaign. But we are hoping this will be the springboard to better things.

"If we can get a couple of good European Shield victories under our belts we are hoping it will rub off in the Welsh/Scottish League.

"We should be higher than we are. We should have beaten Swansea and Bridgend at home and if we can do well in Agen it will send out a positive message." Vale's task is certainly not easy against rivals who have been eight-times French champions, Shield finalists once and semi-finalists three times.

Agen also contain six French internationals, the best known of whom is outside half Christophe Lamaison.

But Billen has met them twice before and knows what to expect, he and hooker Leighton Phillips the surviving members from the Agen visit of 1997-98 when Vale crashed 51-12. "I remember that game well," said Billen. "I was quite young then and had only been at Ebbw Vale about 18 months.

"We were up against an awesome pack with the likes of (Abdelatif) Benazzi and (Philippe) Benetton and it was a big occasion for me. "I remember the crowd was very intimidating, like most French crowds are, but the Stade Armandie surface was immaculate.

"As long as the crowd don't intimidate some of our boys who haven't played that much rugby abroad, we should be all right."

Billen, in his first season as Vale cpatain, added: "Judging by the 15 or so games I've played against the French, the scrum's a big weapon.

"But our scrum has been going well this season, we have worked hard on it during the past couple of weeks, and we are not too worried about that. "We know they put a big emphasis on driving lineouts and we've also worked on defending against that.

"They also have 15 players who seem comfortable with the ball in hand wherever they are on the field. They are a couple of years ahead of us in that respect. "But we have worked to tighten up our midfield defence and I don't think it matters where they attack us.

"I think we can compete with anyone now and we are going out there feeling confident."