Top 14 – Weekend teaching: Bayonne consolidates its place in the top 6

There is only one day left before the first leg ends, and at (almost) mid-season, Aviron Bayonnais already knows that it will finish 2024 in the top six. The reception of the CO next Saturday, if it is well negotiated, could even allow the Basques to further consolidate their place in the six, since seven points separate Aviron (4th) from Castres (7th).

The performance is notable, because if Bayonne is now a serious candidate in the battle for qualification, we must not forget that the Ciel et Blanc had a particularly bad start to the season. On the evening of the last-minute success against MHR (28-27, 4th day), the team coached by Grégory Patat was not ahead before facing Bordeaux, then La Rochelle. Besides, what would have happened for the Gers technician if his players had taken fifty points from Chaban?
We will never know, since Rowing brought back a defensive bonus from Bordeaux, before overthrowing La Rochelle. It was at Anoeta, in a stadium which had not been successful until then, that the change most probably took place. “This match generated confidence”explained Grégory Patat. So much so that, two months and five successes (in seven matches) later, Rowing is comfortably installed among the qualifiers.

Paid recruitment

How did Bayonne get there? First, the Ciel et Blanc quickly resolved the problems on the sidelines, seen at the start of the championship. “Last year, pretty much the same thing happened in the first three games. We didn’t panic”recalled Arthur Iturria in October. Then, and even if the results of a team do not depend on the performance of a single player, Rowing has, in its ranks, the best scorer in the Top 14. With nine tries in ten matches, Sireli Maqala walks on the water, while last year, the Fijian had played too little with his club.

Finally, Aviron, author of judicious recruitment, struck hard by enlisting Lucas Martin, Giovanni Habel-Küffner, Baptiste Chouzenoux and Joris Segonds. Very good in each outing, they allowed last year's starters, whether called Facundo Bosch, Uzair Cassiem, Baptiste Héguy or Camille Lopez, to pull less on the rope. “We have entered the category of teams that can field two competitive teams. It’s valuable”whispered Grégory Patat, a few days after the victory against Toulouse.

Bayonne was then fourth in the standings. A big month later, the Basques have not moved, and when we hear Maxime Machenaud say, after the victory against Vannes, that his people would have “liked to offer a little more content” and this success leaves a “strange” taste, we say that on the banks of Nive, the requirement has gone up a notch. After all, until recently, Rowing, incapable of exporting, would have happily been content with a simple success far from Jean-Dauger. But Bayonne no longer looks down.