Authors of a very disappointing performance in Nice before the truce, the Provencals lost all hope of hanging one of the first two places. They are now in danger for a home dam.
With Private tripa company founded in 2004, or with Provence Rugby, which he has run since 2013, Denis Philipon has already faced multiple turbulence. In a few weeks, his blacks have just known two very disturbing air holes: a humiliation in Valence Romans (63-7), on the return from the holidays, and a defeat at the relegated Niçois (13-12), at the end of the block. Enough to leave thoughtful when the president, like last year, allowed his players to go to Barcelona, in mid-March, in the hope of finding the crazy dynamic which had allowed them to finish leader of the regular season during the previous vintage. This time, the pilgrimage did not bear fruit.
After granting three days off on the return from Côte-d’Azur, Mauricio Reggiardo had given an appointment on Tuesday April 29 to his players. The Argentine coach did not grant another day of rest to his group until the end of the week. The interested party felt “ashamed”and he had things to work after a performance that was not “worthy”according to his words. “We are lying. We say things and we don’t do things. At the start of the year, we set ambitions compared to our means, our workforce and our results from last season … We all get a mistake, the staff like the players! We were ridiculous in Nice, we did not make two passes.”
-For a long time with Brive and Grenoble to hang a direct qualification in the semi-finals, Provence Rugby fell in this fight. “We have a good match in Brive, where we do something that corresponds to our goals. Conversely, we are two hours on the road to go to Nice, to do what we did … We got in trouble!”
A victory to secure a place in the final phase
To have the certainty of being in the first six, Provence Rugby will have, at least, to win one of its last two games against Biarritz or during the trip to Oyonnax. To receive a dam in Maurice-David, it is however advisable to have a full cardboard under penalty of being style in particular by Soyaux-Angoulême. “We are in our place, with two victories outside. All the clubs of the top 6 have four or more victories or more outside, but fate still depends on us. He is in our hands. Now, we question ourselves and we close our mouth. That’s it. This is not the first time that it happens to be hard. We are there, but we have to raise our heads.”
And what could be better than staying invincible in Maurice-David to restore the balm to the heart. “We work a lot of reaction. I am angry with me. We have experienced complicated moments, but rugby always gives us revenge. There are two revenge. We want to go to the end. In Nice, we deserved to be ashamed, because it was a mess. Now, you have to be welded and assume.” Here is the key to succeeding in a golden landing.
