Once again defeated by Toulouse in the final phase, after a complicated season in many ways, La Rochelle does not want to hear about the end of the cycle. Despite the advanced age of some of their executives, the Maritimes intend to rely on their youth.
It’s the end of an erratic season in many ways. A season during which the Rochelais lacked regularity, consistency: one evening transparent against Union Bordeaux Bègles, another irresistible against Mayol in the quarter-final, the Maritimes blew hot and cold for months . Friday evening, the miracle did not happen for the O’Gara gang and to be honest, Stade Rochelais died this year in its rightful place. “A new time, said Gregory Alldritt at a press conferenceit’s the Toulouse people who win and it’s heavy… Now, we’re going with repeat these ten rather boring months where we will go right and left while waiting to power play this kind of big match. We’re going to spend the whole summer scratching our heads.”. Powerful in duels, dominant in collective combat and superior on almost all the balloons she had to unroll, the beautiful Rochelle also seemed to run out of ideas when she had to move the ball away from the meeting points and as such , she even finished her semi-final without the slightest crossing on the clock. “The results cannot be positive since the season ends without the slightest title, continued Alldritt at Matmut Atlantique. Autoday I have SO want to thank our supporters whowere so many displaced people in Bordeaux. I want to ask them to be patient: we will soon find them at the port…”
In any case, the captain of the XV of France does not want to believe in what is nevertheless a biological reality: the overall aging of a team which has hovered over the Champions Cup but some of whose executives probably no longer have the same impact on their team. OHere we think of Uini Atonio (34 years old), who appeared on thirty-three match sheets this season, butknowable Friday evening and whose state of forme today becomes a national cause, as Fabien Galthié seems determined to lead the man and a half from the La Rochelle pack in Australia, in three years; we also mention Jonathan Danty (31 years old), in difficulties since the end of the World Cup and to whom son staff now prefers Jules Favre, in the center of the field ; we don’t forget neither Levani Botia (34 years), here at visibly difficulty in stringing together meetings; we finally think of Brice Dulin (34 years old), untouchable since his arrival in Charente-Maritime in 2020 and overtaken in recent days by the weight of time. “For my part, nevertheless decides Gregory Alldritt on a subject which seems to annoy himis don’t want to hear about of end of cycle. Stade Rochelais is a group under construction and with us, the young people are growing”.
Alldritt: “Not an end of cycle”
Par “youth”, mi papa’s truck * is probably thinking of the one who embodies Atonio’s future on the international scene, George-Henri Colombe, who also made a very good debut on Friday evening; to the Bleuets flyhalf Hugo Reus, to the finisher Nathan Bollengier or even to the left pillar Louis Penverne, one of the great revelations of the season which has just passed. To these men comes today the athletic Oscar Jegou, attractive and even more so in recent weeks: strong touch, interesting in duels and endowed with a good touch on the ball, the child of the island of ‘Oléron seems to have finally cushioned the sanction imposed on him a few months ago by the French Anti-Doping Agency (AFLD) and is now coming out of a final phase so successful that the La Rochelle flanker will fly away this week for South America with “France Développement”. To the extent that Ronan O’Gara intelligently manages the bodies of his oldest players, the squad in place – which only the second line of the UBB Kane Douglas should strengthen in the off-season – should therefore logically allow Stade Rochelais to invite themselves in a few months to the G4 summit of the championship, in Lyon. And hope, who knows, to overcome a curse having already seen the ROG gang lose six times in the final stages, against Stade Toulouse…
* my father’s van
