Non-existent away, irregular at home, the Neversois enter the return phase in a dismal fourteenth place. Maintenance is now the only objective of the group.
Mentally cleared by a family Christmas in Canada, Xavier Péméja returned as a scout to a training center with monastic calm, this Friday, on the eve of the resumption. The manager of Uson Nevers Rugby, since 2016, is not sorry to have left behind a 2024 financial year stamped “annus horribilis”: 13 victories, 18 defeats, including 5 at Pré-Fleuri, a promised and missed qualification of a breath in the spring, and a 2024-2025 season completed halfway through in a worrying fourteenth place.
“In the British rankings, we are penultimate”specifies the Montalbanais. Defeated three times at home, by Grenoble (day 1), Montauban (day 5) then Dax (day 12), its players only brought back one victory from their trips, in Nice (day 13), and above all a series of heavy defeats. , the last of which, at Soyaux-Angoulême on December 20 (35-10), broke the short series of two consecutive victories. “This match is borderline shameful for a team playing for its survival”annoys Xavier Péméja. “The behavior in the second half was painful to see. As soon as it gets a little tough, we give up. This lack of character is what bothers me. I don't feel a group that has the strength to refuse the mediocrity and defeat We must give everything on the day of the match, go all the way, scrape the slightest point, not accept that the opponent takes the offensive bonus against us. We will soon be the strongest team. easy to play outdoors.”
Nevers Dam operator at the “British”
After the debrief of the Charente slap, postponed to the Saturday of resumption due to departure on vacation, the week in view of the reception of the Stade Montois will set the tone of a phase return to the single slogan: “maintenance”. An unprecedented low and heavy horizon for a Nevers club which, since its accession to Pro D2 in 2017, has systematically aimed – and reached three times – the final stages. The rough transition from truffles to rutabaga clearly goes badly: “The defeat against Dax raised awareness, but we had been warning for a long time. With two defeats at home in the first block, we knew we were in danger”points out Xavier Péméja. “ There, in the British rankings, we are play-offs. We have 15 games to become fourteenth. And it's going to be very hard. We're in the wrong car, and there aren't many people inside. I hope everyone has thought carefully during these two weeks: the match against Mont-de-Marsan is already a decisive match for maintenance. Everyone must put their ego, their well-being, after the club. We will have to have the spirit of sacrifice. The priority in everyone's life must be maintaining Nevers. The players, but also the families, must only think about that, about this mission. And even the agents must make their players understand that their honor is to maintain Nevers. Everyone, the staff, the players, must be in as strong a dynamic as if we were playing for a title. It’s as important a goal as a qualification. More important, even. Maintaining will be a nice title.”
France
Rugby
