We quickly switched to the Pau match. This reception is very important in the top 6 race. As early as Monday morning, we focused the work on recovery. We play six days later, we have almost fifteen days less than Pau. They were able to rest and prepare this match well. We dropped juice.
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How will you manage the organizations during this chain of matches every week?
It’s been a while since this management management has been anticipated. Six to eight weeks that we started a lot of rotations. Many players have had the chance to be able to express themselves, while keeping this requirement in terms of results. Others were able to blow and come back when it took. We have a short week to prepare. The mental dimension will make the difference, we focused on this aspect.
The defeat in Pau in the first leg had precipitated the arrival of Karim Gezhal. What has changed in Lou since his appointment as a manager?
There was an awareness of the group. The players are responsible a little more and it moves. Karim brought simple things and he brought the words to restore confidence to certain players. Inevitably, the results came. There is a very positive dynamic, where we wanted to be in this end of the championship and in the European Cup. The quality players we had, we had to bring a new energy to go back to the ranking.
Arnaud Héguy coached Mauléon then Grenoble before landing in Lyon.
LOU Rugby
You stay on a short unlined defeat in Clermont. In this fight for the top 6, there is no right to make mistakes.
You can quickly switch out of the six. We deserved at least a defensive bonus point in Clermont to stay in the six. The slightest point will count, especially the points outside. You will have to fill up at home and go outside points to settle in the top 6.
How do you look at the Paloise section?
It’s a playful team like us. She wants to hold the ball, with a very high effective playing time. On a synthetic surface, there will be a struggle for possession. For them, it’s almost their last chance to apply in the six. It will be a big match.
On the outward journey, we had been taken in the fight, on the line of advantage, the collisions. This team plays the ball but which is also capable of imposing rhythm and commitment in front. Our dynamics are still very different. With us, we will have to impose our game. Especially since we will be almost complete.
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Héguy: “Mauléon has taken up immense challenges”
After fifteen years spent on professional grounds (Bayonne, Biarritz, Grenoble, Dax and Soyaux), the former hooker Arnaud Héguy launched his coach career in Mauléon between 2019 and 2021. He keeps an attentive eye on the performances of the Red and White Club Vice-Champion of France of Federal 1, for his first season in National 2. “I am still their results. Mauléon has once again taken up huge challenges. The players brought the colors of the SAM high in all the stadiums, notably with this adventure in the semi-finals for the reserve team, ”praised the ex-coach of the Mauleonian forwards, who has an excellent memory of his passage in Soule.
What is missing in Lou and all these teams of pursuers to mingle with the top 4?
The championship is very long. Regularity makes the difference between the top of the table and this small peloton of pursuers, the ability to seek performance and coherence weekend after weekends. It is also necessary to make good content outside to take points.
What is the secret to performing in a Cup challenge?
Players were able to express themselves at the start of the competition. The results were there. This is what means that today it has given everyone a taste. This competition is completely different, arbitrated differently. It gives some playing time. The CUP challenge has given an impulse, a dynamic in our season. It shows the balance and quality of our workforce.
A competition that you can now win as coach after this coronation with Biarritz as a player?
I had the chance to win it. I remember a superb collective experience. We want to go get titles. This is what remains in a career, even if it is only the second European Cup.
The number: 0
Since the appointment of Karim Ghezal as a manager of the Lou, on December 6, the Rhone club has never lost at the Gerland stadium with 8 victories and 1 draw (against Toulouse) all competitions. The Lyonnais remain in particular on five consecutive victories in their lair in Top 14.
Injured saginadze
Released wounded last Sunday during the CUP Challenge semi-final against Racing 92, the 3rd Beka Saginadze line suffers from a sprain on the left ankle. The Georgian is forfeited for the reception of Pau on Saturday.
Méliande Lyonnais until 2028
The Béarnais trained at US Orthez Martin Méliande (23) extended his contract with the LOU until 2028. The opener-rear, disembarked this season in the Rhône, has played 25 games (10 tenure) in red and black all competitions (88 points scored).
