Rugby (Pro D2). An end of the year to forget for Montauban

It's a story of series. Last season, USM Sapiac had a series of seven consecutive defeats, between the 19th and the 25th day (from February 9 with a defeat at Sapiac against Béziers 37 to 34, to April 5, at Provence Rugby 29 to 12). Two months which had taken Pierre-Philippe Lafond's men from probable invitees to the final stages, to candidates for the maintenance acquired during the access match in Narbonne, during the 31st and last match of the season. The series or downward spiral arrives earlier this season. A series of four consecutive defeats started in Brive on November 28 (37 to 22), and the last this Friday, December 20, in Sapiac, against Oyonnax (30 to 33) for the last day of the first leg of the championship from Pro D2. After the meeting, in the entourage of the Montalbanese team, no one wanted to cry, present a crestfallen face, put their head at the bottom of the bucket. It was even the Montalbanais who arrived first at the press conference. The question is how to get out of this spiral which, for the moment, has not caused the team to tip too far in the ranking by being seventh, with 36 points, while last season the team occupied eighth place with 34 points, before the decline began. For everyone, the answer will come from work, and from the announced return of several executives at the very beginning of the calendar year 2025. Faced with Oyonnax, we can say that the US Montauban was present in the fight, in conquest, and that It wouldn't have taken much to keep the score sheet by winning at the end of the match. After the siren, Fred Quercy's teammates pounded the line of Ain players for four minutes, without finding the solution to cross the line that the “Green and Black” saw a few steps in front of them.

A primordial month of January

After this last day of the first phase of Pro D2, the players of all the teams go on vacation. This is normal and written into their employment contract. They all know their mission is to come back in good condition. The Sapiacains will be the first to resume the competition by going to the Stade des Alpes, from Thursday January 9 (9 p.m.), to face the leader of the championship, who is in the lead, with 51 points, well ahead of Brive, second, at 46 points. A match where President Jean-Claude Maillard's men will have nothing to lose. We remember that in 2020, they returned from this perilous trip with the two points from the draw (28 to 28). The first month of the year will continue with Friday January 17 (7:30 p.m.), the reception in Sapiac of the Drômois de Valence-Romans whom Sébastien Tillous-Borde's men had beaten by one point, at a time when the ball fell on the right side. The following week, there will be a trip to Mont-de-Marsan to complete this new block of three meetings. The ideal would be to have put an end to the current series of defeats, which would allow the Tarn-et-Garonnais to get closer to the 57 points which statistically ensure maintenance, and allow qualification to be considered. The Pro D2 championship is a long marathon, where nothing is certain. In this period of wishes, Sapiacan supporters wish to quickly review the hopes of the start of the season.