For its last match of the year, Carcassonne travels to Catalan soil to erase its failure at home last week (3 p.m.).
To digest the disappointment and frustration generated by the defeat conceded last Saturday at Domec against the Albigensians (8-18), the Carcassonnais would surely have preferred to take a destination other than that of Pia, where they are playing this afternoon the last day of the first leg of the Super XIII. Indeed, the revenge of the last final of the French championship, which offered a show of poor quality, due in particular to the inability of the referee to hold the debates, generated numerous impacts on the Audois squad. for this trip to Salanque, with one of the best armed teams in the competition.
A cobbled together team
Judge for yourself: Alexis Alberola received two firm suspensions, plus one suspended match, while his teammates Bastien Canet and Edden Rogers Smiths saw their sanction limited to one match. In the affair, Émir-Walid Bouregba once again left his shoulder there. He will have to wait a month before returning to competition. In addition, Félix Aubry suffered a concussion and Germain Rigaud is still in trouble with a knee, Fred Camel and Teddy Sadaoui focused on putting together a team capable of taking on the Catalan challenge. Upon its discovery, we can see that they have not been too successful in their enterprise. If the hinge and the offensive division are entirely renewed, some adjustments take place at the level of the pack as Bastien Scimone regains his position as pillar, while Julien Ballarin will experience his second tenure alongside Maika Serulevu in the second line. The luxury understudies, Maxime Bellondrade and “Lulu” Rodriguez, take their places on the substitutes’ bench.
Despite the scale of the task proposed to his men, Fred Camel wants to be resolutely positive: “Even if we keep it in the back of our minds, the Albi reception belongs to the past. We are now looking to the future and this trip to Pia, where we are going to achieve a result”. This says a lot about the victory ambitions of his troops.
