This Saturday at the opening of the 12th day of Top 14, Christophe Urios’ players are traveling to La Rochelle.
The Clermont forwards coach, Julien Laïrle as well as the hooker Barnabé Massa spoke to the newspaper La Montagne in the run-up to this meeting.
Julien Laïrle believes that the fight ahead will be tough. Extract :
La Rochelle is a fairly frontal team. They play on their strong assets, which are physical guys, capable of carrying the balls. They are dominant in cohesion. They have a very efficient conquest, like the mauls and the scrum. I find a group of forwards who have become homogeneous again compared to their start to the season, especially with the return of certain injured players.
He admits, he fears the Rochelais more than his opponent last weekend, Leinster. Extract :
It is a team that is brutal in its forwards and imaginative in its three-quarters. I think defensively they will give us more problems than Leinster were able to do this weekend.
Barnabé Massa also expects a fierce fight. Extract :
It’s a really, really tight team. We know that the front game will be essential. We know it’s going to be a big fight, whether in the scrum sector or even on the mauls. We expect a big fight.
