The first day of the return matches, with 15 points on the clock, is a bit like a free fall without belt or strap, parachute or life buoy… Vannes is in danger of sinking, but Vannes has reasons to hope.
Certainly there are these incredible statistics for an away promotion, 24 points scored per match, but there is this hard-headed arithmetic: Vannes concedes 30 points at home while only scoring 26… Rugby n It’s not just statistics, we admit. But in Pau, the Vannes residents scored an average of 24 points away from home and fulfilled the contract perfectly. But they took in twice as much.
“We lacked players capable of making breaks”explained Jean-Noël Spitzer, the Vannetais coach, after the defeat against Bayonne. Hence the tenure of Debaës, a super player at 7, in a team made to try to score points. Problem, you need hardness. Even if Ayarza was credited with his best match since the start of the season, the Section showed a rigor and a reason that the Bretons still lack. “A real relegated season: always close, never close enough to win”analyzes a former Brive winger in love with Vannes. With more than 40 points maintained, the reception of Clermont resembles a judge of the peace: victory or relegation.
The next two matches will be final
Vannes remains a porcupine promotion, which harms visitors and those visited. But the Top 14 has been crushing the promoted ones, almost systematically since 2013. A defeat on Sunday against Clermont, 5th with 34 points, would be synonymous with a championship lagging behind for the Bretons, 14th with 15 points and 7 points behind Lyon and eight in Paris and Perpignan. The return to form and full of gas of Joe Edwards, the New Zealand flanker-tackle, the good health of the group and especially of the thirty-year-old executives of the team – Ruru, Vunipola, Medrano, Metz, Saili –, the canes behind – Rayasi, the freshness of Duplenne – the exemplary leadership of Gorrissen… When winning becomes a mission, you no longer have to play, you have to pray… But those were the “Tontons flingueurs”. Vannes remains strong and equipped, with balanced players in perfect condition to give everything before the European break. Shall we summarize? If it wins, we still believe in it… Jean-Noël Spitzer was very explicit after the defeat in Béarn against Section Paloise last Saturday (48-24). “The next two matches (against ASM Clermont on Sunday then Stade français on January 25) will be definitive, not just decisive.”
In Béarn, Vannes was wrong in its strategy. The Bretons still have the right to make mistakes but no longer lose, otherwise the second part of the championship will become a not-so-gentle slope…
Morocco
