Let’s not be afraid of words: the Rugby Club Vannes, which has already written the most beautiful pages in the history of Breton rugby, can achieve an unprecedented feat this Saturday near Toulouse, where Jean-Noël Spitzer’s men face Grenoble in the Pro D2 final. Never has a club from the region managed to reach the Top 14, and the people of Vannes are one step away from this dream, carried by all of Brittany, and by the fervor of nearly 5,000 Breton supporters expected in Toulouse this Saturday.
“It would be exceptional for the whole group” – Maxime Lafage
After their victory (27-21) against Béziers at La Rabine last week, the Vannes residents are aware of what is at stake on Ernest-Wallon’s pitch against Grenoble, as demonstrated by opener Maxime Lafage: “It would be exceptional for the whole group, to mark the history of the club forever, to be the first Bretons to win a shield and a rise to the highest French level! I think the club has been working for a very long time to be at this level. All of Brittany is behind us and we really feel it since the semi-final, we are really pushed to the extreme.“
We must measure the progress made, particularly since the arrival as coach of Jean-Noël Spitzer in 2005. The club was then in Federal 2, the fourth level of French rugby at the time, and it could join the elite today, less than 20 years later. “I hadn’t considered doing this at first.concedes the Vannes coach. But today yes, it’s a mission, we’re not hiding our faces. It’s so hard to leave the amateur world to get here. We have one last step left, so obviously there is the desire to complete this mission.“Jean-Noël Spitzer still ensures that his team is approaching this final”calmly“, after a semi-final where the players sometimes seemed tense by the stakes.
The supporters believe in it unwaveringly
Thirteen buses of supporters left Vannes in the early morning, to reach Toulouse in the afternoon. Among them, Kerlenn Gwened, a young Vannes kop, which has around fifty members. Aymeric Bouthéon is one of them. And for him, the time has perhaps come to discover the Top 14, the best rugby championship on the planet: “The progression is linear, it’s quite funny, we spent 10 years in Federal 3, 10 years in Federal 2, 10 years in Federal 1, we’ve been in Pro D2 for 7 years… There’s no there is no absolute urgency, we don’t have a knife to our throat and the season’s progress is already admirable, but a final is meant to be won! I think the club has never been so ready in terms of team, infrastructure, budget… It’s the year or never. We could calculate by saying “yes but in 2 years we will be a little more ready”, except that in 2 years, sportingly, the door will perhaps not be open. There, it’s open, so you have to go!“
Jean-Yves has been a volunteer for the club for several years. And for this lover of the Blues and Whites, the climb is beyond doubt: “Ah but we’re going up! For me it’s clear: we’re going up. I trust them and we will have the Top 14. It’s high time!“And it doesn’t matter if Grenoble won both rounds against RC Vannes during the regular season : “They won’t beat us a third time! We are going to win, we are not going to go to Toulouse for nothing. Five thousand spectators, traveling 800 kilometers for rugby, it’s fantastic, it amazes me, it even surprises me! Something is going to happen in Toulouse.“
Thursday, before the players left for Toulouse, the mayor of Vannes David Robo was invited to give a speech to the group by club president Olivier Cloarec. The councilor says: “I gave a fairly muscular, quite optimistic speech: that the Morbihan, Vannes fervor carries them. May it not inhibit them, but rather carry them, liberate them! Because I believe that we are not favorites against Grenoble, but it is a match, and everything is playable in a match. They have been fighting to be in Toulouse for eleven months, and I felt a very concerned group, very concentrated, and sure of their strengths. I’m crossing my fingers that we win.“
Let us remember that if this beautiful dream and this Vannes wave were to break on the Grenoble mountain, the RCV would have a new chance to reach the Top 14 next weekend with a play-off against the 13th in the Top 4, Montpellier Hérault Rugby.
