At Aviron Bayonnais, he experienced the finest hours of the Coupe de France. Assistant during the 2004 epic, which took the Basques to the round of 16 of the Coupe de France at the Parc des Princes against PSG, Alain Pochat was the head coach in 2006 during the reception of Olympique Lyonnais to Jean-Dauger still in the French Cup. Facing Pau, this Saturday October 16 at 1:45 p.m. 7th round of the Coupe de Franceit’s a new challenge that presents itself to the coach. Aviron Bayonnais, a Nationale 3 club, will have to achieve a real feat to eliminate the Palois who play three divisions above in Ligue 2. “You have to live the match, you have to be an actor”supports the Bayonne coach. “I think we have strengths too. We must exploit them and we must be, in both aspects of the game, in defense and in attack, conquering! We will have to be united!”
For the first time since 2020, Aviron Bayonnais will face a professional club in this Coupe de France. It’s a fair reward for a group undefeated in the league since August. “Again, it’s the players’ competition. It’s the icing on the cake for them,” smiles Alain Pochat. Rowing, a declared candidate for promotion to Nationale 2, does not want to waste the Coupe de France. “A championship season is long, we don’t know where we will be in March-April. For Saturday, my heart goes out to my players so that they have a good match and that they succeed, with why not a feat In the Coupe de France, we see exploits every season so if we are one of them, so much the better!”
“On weekends, the stadium is not full… There, it will be different!”
Captain of Rowing Bayonnais, Charles-Elie Laprevotte, is already looking forward to kick-off. “We’re going to play hard. There are three divisions, but we believe in it!” Accustomed to seeing the Didier-Deschamps stadium rather sparse, the captain longs to see the stands full. “People are going to follow our results more. It’s super exciting, we’re not going to lie. Of course, on the weekend, the stadium is not full. There, that might be the case with probably some people around the fence too, it’s super motivating, it’s going to give us even more strength.”
A great celebration is coming this Saturday in the Basque Country with this Basque-Béarnais shock. Rowing could not dream of a more beautiful poster for this 7th round, smiles Lausséni Sangaré, one of the presidents. “The Coupe de France is a great epic. We are going to give ourselves the means to beat our Béarnais friends, with all humility of course. It is serenity that takes precedence and above all no stress. There you go, we have a long history in the Coupe of France so all the ingredients today are there so that we receive the Palois in good conditions and that in the end, we emerge victorious from this match.” To support them, Basques like former football international Bixente Lizarazu or rugby player Camille Lopez sent videos of support to Alain Pochat’s men.
