Even the French think that Perpignan are a bit exotic. Stuck down on the tip of Roussillon and wrapped up tight in their Catalan colours of blood and gold, they have carved a name for themselves as horribly tough to beat on their own soil.
They have also defied the old notion - the cliched plea that can still be whispered in changing rooms over here - about teams south of Dover not travelling well. Victories away over Llanelli and Leinster and a doughty performance in the final they lost to Toulouse at Lansdowne Road have earned the Catalans respect wherever they play.
But when they lost their second player to the sin bin in only the first half, it seemed that they were not treating this with cold-hearted, cool-headed discipline. Gregory Le Corvec had gone off for slapping at the ball as it came out of a ruck, and here was Michel Konieck never retreating anything like 10 metres after a botched clearance by Nicolas Laharrague.
With both teams in contention for a place in the last eight, this was rather handing the initiative to Wasps. Four penalties from Alex King - one from near halfway with Lawrence Dallaglio as ball-holder - were proof of a certain untidiness.
On the other hand, two tackles by Gavin Hume - one on Tom Voyce and one on Paul Sackey - offered shuddering and contrasting evidence of a steelier approach. For every counterattacking snippet of Danny Cipriani, the 19-year old who accounts for one quarter of the group of English starlets at No 10 - Ryan Lamb, Shane Geraghty and Toby Flood are the others - there was the collective might of the Perpignan driving maul. This was a tie that hung in the balance for a long time.
Even when King added a fifth penalty early in the second half, it meant that nothing was resolved. For every point, a scare. Out of a ruck on 43 minutes staggered Phil Vickery, the new England captain. Mercifully it was nothing to do with his long history of back trouble but something a little higher, an accidental left elbow to his right temple. A splash of water, a shake of his head, and he was back.
His head cleared in time to witness the turning point. The Laharrague brothers had looked full of adventure - full-back Julien's little dink and gather is a speciality - until Nicolas tried a somewhat harder probe off his boot. It was charged down by the other teenager in the Wasps three-quarters, Dominic Waldouck, the centre staying on his feet and gathering to go over unopposed. Josh Lewsey and Waldouck - a centre combination worth remembering.
Laharrague N's misdemeanour was rewarded with his replacement by South African Steve Meyer, who promptly missed a long-range penalty, before landing another. This was still far from over.
It was a slightly strange occasion, with the Wasps forwards confined to solid collective duties. Nothing wrong with that, but it is not often that their fearsome individuals are upstaged, even out-muscled, by their opponents. There was a lot of dumping of bodies at the tackle area, with red and gold shirts usually doing the furniture removal.
A strong run by Fijian wing Samueli Dawai Naulu stirred things up further away from the collision zone. It led to a penalty being awarded against Lewsey for a bit of off-the-ball, and a series of close-range drives at the line.
These were the mauls of the earlier minutes of the game, and it was no surprise when Romania flanker Ovidiu Tonita reached the line, before being bounced back. The video ref confirmed touchdown before the knockback.
The momentum of the game might have changed altogether had Meyer landed the conversion. He missed, and then scooped a penalty from distance into safe Wasps' hands.
In the closing moments Wasps played clock countdown pretty well, keeping the ball close to the likes of Dallaglio. The old boy did his bit, without ever making many yards or ripping up any trees. This was hardly a stirring performance that might yet relaunch a World Cup career.
Somehow it is others who are catching the eye now. Eoin Reddan was vigorous behind the scrum. Simon Amor came on and tossed a few big carcasses around. Cipriani and Waldouck, young enough to be Dallaglio's... well, just very young. Others are making rapid progress while Dallaglio slowly, sadly and almost majestically falls away.
For Perpignan, little scrum-half Nicolas Durand was tidy and deft. It is a problem position for France, although it seems Dimitri Yachvili is cemented in for the moment. Durand, though, may yet provide good back-up. Or he may just continue to do his bit for his strange corner of the rugby world, down there on the tip of Roussillon.
Wasps will now have to avoid defeat in another corner of France if they are to make the last eight. Castres await them down on the Tarn, a small town surrounded by fields of lavender and haricot beans. A strange bunch in their own right. Brilliant one day, indifferent the next. On we go, deeper into the exotic soup of European competition.
Adams Park 7,620
Wasps Cipriani; Sackey, Waldouck, Lewsey, Voyce; King, Reddan (Amor 75); Payne, Ibanez (Ward 75), Vickery (Bracken 75), Shaw, Palmer, Worsley, O'Connor (Rees 50), Dallaglio (capt)
Try Waldouck Con King Pens King 5
Perpignan J Laharrague; Manas, Grandclaude, Hume (Meyer 63), Dawai Naulu; N Laharrague, Durand; Freshwater (capt), Konieck (Tincu 63), Mas, Gaston (Alvarez Kareilis 12), Olibeau, Le Corvec, Tonita (Vaki 72), Bortolaso
Try Tonita Pens N Laharrague 2, Meyer
Referee N Owens (Wales)
