Paris has only one idea in mind: winning away to reset the scorers.
“It’s the best hour of Rugby we’ve produced since we arrived.” The words are strong, free from any ambiguity. They are signed Laurent Labit, director of rugby at Stade français. In the middle of the week, after analyzing the match against Racing 92 which ended with a big victory (40-24), the boss of the Pink Soldiers had found a little balm in his heart. As if, finally, its players had appropriated the proposed game project. He develops: “For an hour, we recited the rugby that we want to put in place. For several seasons, the team has been good at winning and defending. And against Racing, we were much more interesting with the ball because everyone was in the same state of mind. We were almost systematically in the lead by winning the collisions, with the ball carriers always having solutions in the axis or on the sides.
A new season starts
An observation lending to optimism? This is what the Parisians showed during this last week marked “Top 14” before switching to the Champions Cup. And for good reason. At this time, even if the capital club is still far from its standing as the last semi-finalist of the championship, the situation is not alarming. “We are dragging this defeat at home against Toulon like a ball and chain, peste Labit. We are missing points from this match to be almost on target. So we have points to recover away from home.” And to add: “Certainly, Bayonne is not the easiest place to recover these points but it is still the objective. In this championship, there is nothing normal. Everything is possible.”
Paris is therefore advancing into the Basque Country with the ambition of resetting the counters to zero. As if the Stadistes had the idea of starting a new season. “That's a bit of the idea, sourit Labit. We found what we had put in place during the preseason without being able to exploit it due to a multitude of injuries. Above all, the international break has done us the greatest good. The players came back with a different mindset. Result: we saw the best of Brad Weber for an hour, a sharp Louis Carbonel in animation but also in defense, the speed of Joe Jonas. The planets are starting to align.” A success at Jean-Dauger would therefore allow Stade Français to embark on the European interlude with a lighter spirit. And to launch “officially” its season on December 21 at Jean-Bouin, against Perpignan.
France
Rugby
