Top 14 – Clermont wants to continue to sharpen its defense, before moving to La Rochelle

The barbed wire holds firm in Clermont. Since this famous victory in Lyon, a month ago, the ASM is doing better in all sectors. If we have often praised the destructive power of the Auvergne forwards in recent weeks, the Jaunards have especially set the record straight in defense, a sector where they were still overwhelmed before the arrival of November, particularly away from home. . Over the last three meetings, Christophe Urios’ men have conceded an average of 8.3 points and only two tries. As a bonus, the Jaunards had offered themselves the luxury of leaving Treviso with zeroa first for the Auvergne club since 2013!

“I think the players realized that it was difficult to score forty-five points to win matches where we conceded thirty or thirty-five.” concedes Julien Laïrle. “When you have ambitions, you can’t spend your time chasing the score. We needed to show that in terms of state of mind and team, we were capable of being much tougher. There is never anything more unbearable than playing a team that is difficult to beat. We realized this in the off-season, and the work is starting to pay off. welcomes the Clermont defense coach.

When Fischer is there, everything goes…

Heavy travel au Racing (33-20), in Perpignan (33-3) or in Toulouse (48-14) at least had the merit of waking up a collective that was too dispersed at the very start of the season to assert its top 6 goals. Often overwhelmed in the middle of large spaces or in the corridors, the Jaunards gritted their teeth at home to today be in a more comfortable situation. But what was the tipping point of this sudden change? For Barnabé Massa, summer sweat is just beginning to show its virtues. “There was no click! Simply, our pre-season work is starting to pay off. Everyone has the same desire to work and above all we hope that we will keep this dynamic in defense until the end of the season” ambitions the young hooker.

Technically, the Jaunards are more precise, less concentrated in the rucks and more effective in scratching. Away from injuries, Alexandre Fischer makes a unique contribution to the Auvergne pack, as Julien Laïrle points out. “Since the start of the season, we have recovered the profiles of players who make the difference in defense and in the ground game. This is the case of Alexandre (Fischer). We have a lot more contested balls and we recover a lot more balls on the ground on the two-man tackle, we are also much more rigorous. We are more connected without exhausting ourselves in the rucks. if we take too easy a try against Leinsterthe behavior of our three-quarters is interesting. There is a great overall development in this sector.” An exciting improvement which does not prevent Julien Laïrle from continuing to shout with his strident voice in the middle of high-intensity sessions. “I still shout as much (laughs). Even if we were the first defense in the Top 14, I would continue!”