AS Béziers Hérault-Union sportive montalbanaise, today Saturday, at 4 p.m., in Béziers (Raoul-Barrière stadium). Referee: Mr. Benoît Portet (Occitanie).
Last season, the Crabos juniors from US Montauban reached the final of the Challenge de France, without knowing the joy of lifting the shield, losing, in Lectoure against Tarbes. This year again, the young Montalbanais coached by Alex Saint-Rémy, Kévin Gimeno (first teammate), and Sylvain Jonnet (former great player), and their physical trainer Tom Imbert know that for the second year in a row they will take part to the final phase which will begin at the semi-final stage by finishing first in their group. The ambition is the same as last season for the men of presidents Michel Ambal and Luc Florès.
In first place in the national ranking
The Sapiacans have strong arguments to support their ambitions. Before the last day of the qualifying phase of the second phase, the teammates of second row Matisse Devinck-Tremion are installed in first place in the national ranking. However, they are only one point ahead of the two other group leaders, Rouen and Biarritz, the last qualifying place will be for the best second, where Nevers (32 points) is one time ahead of Vannes. (29 points). We see that the matches of this last day have a crucial importance in delivering the order of the semi-finals. For this last match of the group stage, the team supervised by Solange, and Sarah Campergue, Didier Bord, Mickaël Groux, and Jean-François Disaud will have to put out the same type of match as during the first leg at Ramiérou which saw them winning by 33 to 6 (5 tries to 0). In this case, mass will be said and the “green and black” will host the best runner-up (Nevers or Vannes) at home two weeks later in the semi-final. The last narrow victory against Chambéry showed that we should not think that everything is going well. You should know that the Sapiacain juniors are undefeated during this second phase (9 victories in 9 matches). We will have to finish the work in Béziers, in the legendary stadium of the Mediterranean. In the event of defeat, we would have to scrutinize the results from Rouen to Marcq-en-Bareuil, and from Biarritz to Auch, to be sure. For this last meeting, it is very likely that the coaches will rotate their squad, in order to rest certain organizations and give more playing time to others. The team will present itself in Béziers in the following composition: Fourcaud; Ferrero, Zanchetta, Julia, Gervais; (0) Delmas, (m) Calvet; Cousseau, Teulières, Chesnel; Chayeb, Devinck (cap); Frauca, Louis, Buret. Will start on the substitutes’ bench: Auréjac, Guyot, Garioub, Vidal, Balesi, Blanc, Théreyzol, Lala. Additional player: Huc. The final phase atmosphere is arriving for the flag-bearing team of US Montauban this season.
