the essential
After the Sacred Hopes last weekend, the B Gaudermen cadets will have to work hard in the final against USAP to bring back the title.
> Stade Toulousain-USAP Pays Cataln, today 2:30 p.m., in Pamiers.
It’s time for the final for the Gaudermen cadets from Stade Toulousain. This Saturday in Pamiers, they will face USAP/Pays Catalan, to try to bring back a piece of wood that has been fleeing them since 2019. “We are not focusing on knowing when the last one was won. The last generation who won it was the one who was champion in Espoir this weekend. There was Ruben Maka who played, and who is the big brother of our captain Aaron,” underlines coach Pascal Castro. who can count on a team with confidence. “We have had a good run since the start of the season in a fairly homogenous group made up of big teams.”
Proof of this is the final between the first two of this group 3. “We had a lot of problems during the season but we are satisfied with Lionel (Mottais, co-coach) with the course. In the final stages, all the teams are Against Bayonne and Bordeaux, it was very open matches where it could have gone one way or the other, then against Provence, it is undoubtedly the best team we have played this season. We’re having some great final stages,” recalls Pascal Castro.
A team to beat
The Toulouse people will have a hard time facing the Catalans whom they have not beaten this season “It was the first championship match, we lost in Perpignan (24-21). For a first match it was very hot and frankly, it still produced some play, even the referee was surprised at the level. Then in the second match, we led 21-0 at half-time and it ended at 21-21 so we didn’t make it. There is no apprehension, we know that the final phase matches are always special, we will play our card to the fullest,” says the coach who knows the qualities of his opponent: “It’s a very complete team. with a nice depth of bench, a nice bunch of forwards, speed at the back and then there it is, it’s the USAP, it doesn’t give up until the end, it’s strong and aggressive in the good sense of the word .”
In a finale that smells like gunpowder, the young people from Toulouse hope to finish the Gaudermen adventure well. “They are happy to be here, to experience another weekend together, because they are aware that there are many teams who have finished seeing each other for several weeks,” concludes Pascal Castro.
