After giving rise to a game of musical chairs, the position of 10 is currently given priority to Ihaia West, who brings the most certainty in the eyes of the staff.
Almost every week, the question would be worth a debate on the port: so, who will wear number 10 in La Rochelle this weekend? At the start of the season, the question did not seem so thorny, to tell the truth. The first name to come to mind and on the sheets was that of Antoine Hastoy. With his international experience, his feats of arms in the final stages and a solid experience – 49 starts over the last two seasons, all the same – the native Béarnais was favored by the predictions. Hugo Reus, incarnation of the future, was approaching an important turning point after a promising and contrasting year which had highlighted as much the quality of his left foot as his room for improvement in the conduct of the game. And Ihaia West there- inside ? With his 32 years, his status as a non-Jiff and a previous exercise that was hardly convincing, the eldest had, on paper, the profile of the all-rounder capable of remedying the various and varied absences.
Over the first third of the season, the conductor’s chair gave rise to a game of musical chairs more lively than expected between the three attendants: four starts for Ihaia West (1st, 2nd, 9th and 11th day), five for Antoine Hastoy (4th, 6th, 7th, 8th and 10th), two for Hugo Reus (3rd and 5th). Then, thanks to the shift to the Champions Cup, the West surprise emerged. A choice of confidence in favor of the New Zealander, whose technical accuracy and experience are held in esteem, as much as a dig at Hastoy, who is criticized by the management for not weighing enough on the game. Starting with Ronan O’Gara, number 1 on the staff and number 10 at heart.
“Hastoy? We expect more from him”
Before the European break, the international tricolor had nevertheless shared with us good feelings. “I feel very good physically”he indicated after an autumn which saw him play the first ten days and an Argentinian tour from which he returned “rather happy”. Impatient to return to a European stage on which he has frequently been at ease, Antoine Hastoy remained in the stands during the two meetings while West delivered rather convincing performances: the latter was precise in the occupation in Bath and rather inspired in his handling of the game against Exeter, with a foot pass acrobatically converted into a try by Nowell and a 100% kick. At the final whistle of the clear victory over the Bears, the two subjects came back to the discussion table: the non-selection of Hastoy – “a real choice on the part of the staff and the manager […]we expect more from him and he knows it”, reacted Romain Carmignani – and the form of West – “He led the game very well in this match”briefly commented the specialist in forward play. Before putting things in context: “We have three number 10s, with rotations. We are building things.” With, for the moment, the New Zealander in charge, as should still be the case this Saturday for the arrival of Clermont. The Kiwi is taking advantage of this good time to remind those who doubted it or who had forgotten the extent of its palette. “Ihaia, I love this player, Loue Thomas Berjon. You only see him on Saturdays but during the week… For me, technically, he’s one of our best backs. I may not be objective but in my eyes, he has always been a very good player. We never had any doubts about him and we always knew he would do the job.”
If this is the truth of the moment, the openers’ ball is surely far from over: Hastoy and Reus, drawn into the game of competition, both have the assets to bounce back, from the trip to Perpignan. What will not change, however, is the importance of conditioning the conductor, whoever he may be. Grégory Alldritt pointed out this wisely last Saturday: “When the hinge was criticized, it was mainly because we were not doing the work ahead. Now, we have been doing it recently and it puts the hinge in a better position to make the right decisions and perform well.” On this point, there is no debate.
