This Thursday, April 18, Rugby Club Vannes is heading to Montauban to play the 27th day of Pro D2, in the Sapiac stadium. The 28 players summoned, the staff and Olivier Cloarec, the president, who decided to accompany his team for this crucial match with a view to direct qualification for the semi-final, depart at the end of the morning for an eight-hour bus ride.
Each season, the RCV crisscrosses France, accumulating nearly 15,000 km of buses. The total would be even more enormous if the most distant trips (Aix, Valence, Grenoble) were not made by plane or train. A true priesthood. “I know all the gas stations,” prefers manager Jean-Noël Spitzer to smile. “Developing a club with geographical isolation is really complicated, because we are not necessarily helped by the League, there are no positive discriminatory measures towards us”regrets Martin Michel, the general director.
For its part, Montauban, the weekend’s opponent, has barely half the kilometers by bus. It is therefore less fatigue, less constraints. “On the other hand, all this time spent together creates cohesion, strengthens the group. We transform it into strength, President Cloarec is convinced. This does not prevent the players from having merit, because we return on Saturday at 6-7 a.m., there are often children to manage. The life of a professional rugby player is not always as rosy as you think. »
Everything is precise
To pass the time, players play cards, watch films or series. “I drink mate with Bautista Pedemonte and we talk a lot,” says Captain Fransisco Gorrissen.
Maxime Lafage lies down in the hallway to sleep. The staff, as studious as ever, watches videos. Mathieu Demy, the assistant physical trainer, also in charge of logistics during travel, is fine-tuning the last details: the room listinvitations to the stadium for loved ones…. “The players sleep two to a room except when there is a big snorer. I take care of reserving a field or a room for the Friday morning activation. »
Even more than during the training week, everything is carefully planned, timed during a trip so as not to get scattered or waste negative energy.
Meals of course, treatments, muscle awakening, free time, briefings. Everything must be smooth until the journey to the stadium.
After eight buses, physiotherapists Patrice Boutevin and Corentin Joly take action. Many players want a few massages to erase the scars of the journey, all the more important since the sizes of rugby players are not very suited to the dimensions of a coach. They will work until 11 p.m. to unlock the backs and muscles.
“I try not to think about rugby”
The next morning, after breakfast, physical trainer Simon Boisbluche leads a stretching session, before Mathieu Cidre, the forwards coach, summarizes the strengths of the opposing team. “They have a nice touch, it goes fast and high, assures the technician, pointing to the priority jumper. It’s a feverish, fragile team (she plays it safe). They must be constantly put under pressure. Be sure of your collective strength. »
Everyone then takes the bus to a synthetic field for an activation based on ball games, not always oval in fact. Just a stone’s throw away, US Montauban is building a performance center. The city’s grounds manager, a former player, observes the Breton team with deep respect for the journey accomplished by the club since its rise, putting the difficulties of his own in parallel.
After the meal, the players are free until 4:30 p.m. Most take a nap, others take a walk or laze in the sun in the courtyard of the hotel, a superbly renovated convent. “I try not to think about rugby, I leave my head fresh for what comes next,” says Gorrissen.
” Show no mercy ! »
At 4:30 p.m., at the same time as the snack, the straps ballet also begins. The two physiotherapists prepared their tapes in advance because almost the entire team goes through it. We must not waste time. The pressure is starting to build.
Jean-Noël Spitzer is already focused for his talk before leaving for Sapiac, the mythical basin known to be bubbling. In the darkness of the room, as images pass by, the coach calls out to his players: “This excitement at the end of the season is the salt of the competition. Who doesn’t want to play this type of match? The stakes are high, that’s what should make you vibrate,” starts the technician before returning to the four pillars of performance. “The first is the physical condition, the athletic level of the team, your ability to exploit it. When I look at you, we are fielding a top team in top form. The second thing is discipline, respect for the rules, but also for the strategy, the game plan. Today these are things that you have mastered.
There are two other elements. The first is contribution. I’ve already told you, at one point you’re going to save the team, you’re going to make it win on an action. There is the one on the ground and there is the daily contribution. If you are here playing these high-stakes matches, there is a contribution on an emotional and social level. This contribution makes your group strong. And that the opponent can do what he wants, the public can make noise, it won’t weigh on you. We must not ignore this noise, we must feed on it. Finally, the last pillar is the competitive instinct. This is often what makes the difference. Being competitors is what makes it tick. This notion of competition, of looking for the small detail, the extra effort, this extra arm wrestling, this never give up. This is what makes us competitors. This is what we are going to look for today. »
The tone is calm, but firm. The manager instills pressure while instilling confidence in his players. Spitzer concludes his remarks with an allusion to piracy. “We have the image of Jolly Rodger, their black flag, but when this flag was hoisted on the mast of a boat and it was red, what did it mean? Show no mercy ! »
“It must sting for them”
There is no question of feeling sorry for the fate of Montauban in the fight for its maintenance, any more than the Montalbanais did in December 2017 when they corrected Vannes 73-0. The club’s heaviest defeat in Pro D2.
Times have changed, but the memory remains alive in the memories of those who experienced it. As evidenced by Cyril Blanchard’s muscular speech in the locker room before the match. “It’s going to be fire, the stadium is going to be full. It’s going to be war, but it must sting for them. They no longer exist, we turn them off in the first 20 minutes. This is the last line, we no longer calculate. »
And yet it was the Vert et Noir who scored first before Vannes reacted and took the upper hand, until a gap in the second half and a mano a mano favorable to the Bretons. The RCV won in the end, for the first time in five months, away from Rabine and took a big step towards the semi-final.
“It was a strategically constructed match, a serious match. I keep the last defensive sequence, bring them up to the siren to defend our in-goal, while the match is won, it prevents them from having one last ball on the reception of the last return, it is expensive to finish like That. I don’t care if he doesn’t have a bonus, that’s not our problem. We said no quarter. So, we have the possibility of going for the half on Friday at home against Rouen, it’s an incredible opportunity. Congratulations. »
The locker room is exultant, beers are taken out of a large crate filled with ice. President Cloarec is radiant, he who experiences the matches so intensely.
At 11 p.m., the bus heads back to Brittany, Paga Tafili as evening master astride the beer crate. The atmosphere is joyful, laughing, singing. After a break around 2 o’clock, everyone dozed off until arriving at d’Aucy Park in the early morning. The group quickly disperses, foggy with sleep, well broken by the match and the trip, but a little closer to the first objective of the season.
Club interior:
Episode 1 : Behind the scenes of an evening at Rabine
Episode 3: INTERVIEW. “I have enriched myself from the amateur world,” assures Jean-Noël Spitzer
