Rugby (Federal 2, 1/16 Final first): Plaisirial objective for Éric Catinot

The COCB tackles the final phases without any particular pressure.

After a direct qualification in the 1/16 final for the second consecutive year, Le Creusot will travel this Sunday to play the first leg. This before receiving the Parisian suburbs Sunday, May 18 at the Park des Sports for the return.
A team of pleasure that finished third in its pool behind Tours and Saint-Malo, and which promises to be a big piece. The Plaisirois, in the dam, were defeated from Antony Métro 27 to 12. It should also be noted that all the barragist teams in Pool 1 (the cocb poule) were eliminated last Sunday by their opponents of Pool 8. Of Pool 1, only the PUC and the COCB are therefore still in the running …

Éric Catinot, the Creusot coach, gave us his feelings before this match.

Like last year, the COCB is qualified directly in the 1/16 final, how do you analyze the team’s journey?

Éric Catinot: “It must first be remembered that qualification was not the initial objective. You have to remember where you come from, the problems that we had in the offseason. So initially, the objective was to ensure the maintenance.

And then the three victories in the first three matches gave confidence, and path doing we ended up in the first six, we were even a moment in the fight with the PUC for first place. But that was not a club ambition, it was the ambition of a team, it is important to remember.
Compared to last year, we lost many executive players but we showed that we were in the real on the approach. The collective took over, with a great state of mind, and today we are there for the final stages. When I talk about the collective, I’m talking about all players, because it must be seen that the B is also qualified, it has spent its dam match, so that’s very positive. »»

These final phases, how do you approach them?

“For us, it is only bonus; pleasure in taking and the pleasure of giving. To give to the club, to our spectators, to our supporters, to all those who follow us … We really approach them without any pressure, having no particular objective.
This season, we arrive in more favorable conditions than last year since we did not need to whip to finish in second place. From the match in Auxerre, we were sure to finish second, so we were able to give playing time to those who needed it and to rest the executives who had played a lot.

Now, for three weeks, we have worked a lot. We learned, we learned from last season to better prepare. We should therefore approach the first leg in better conditions and in better way than last year during the trip to Vinay. »»

A word on this pleasure team that promises to be a formidable opponent?

“Yes, pleasure is a club that has been on a project to rise in Federal 1 for three years. They failed last year in the 1/8 final on a penalty in the last second … This year they are again there, there is a big club logic, it’s very structured, there is a real continuity.
So clearly, it will be very complicated. They have a big hinge, it’s very dense in front, fast behind … On paper, I think they are superior to us: they are more experienced than us at this level and they pursue federal 1 goals, which is not our case.
On our side, we have been a little less well since March, we have lost this extra soul that made us achieve incredible things. One of the objectives of these three weeks of work was to try to refocus, to find what made our strength. We have references to the outside, I think in particular of the PUC, in Bourges … We must find this supplement of soul, because we want to stay together as long as possible, to go as far as possible, to finish together. »»