The Aixois are determined to restart their season on the ground, this Friday evening in Agen, with the intention of bringing back a first success away from their bases.
Without fanfare but with very good efficiency at home, the men of the Reggiardo-Dupuy-Delmas-Ladauge quartet are currently in a logical third place (tied with Béziers) and have overall achieved a satisfactory first leg. But, to hope to grab one or two places overall to enter the top 2, Arthur Coville’s teammates will have to raise their level of play and finally seek an away victory. During their last outings, they were close to succeeding (defeats by one point in Colomiers and Dax). And, to start a return phase, there’s nothing like winning away before welcoming the Grenoble leader in a week. That said, the people of Aix do not have a short memory and remember that in the restart match last year, precisely in Grenoble, they received a real lesson in Rugby (45-10) and a few weeks later, they had also inclined clearly on Agen land. So, yes, the intentions and ambitions are real but it will necessarily be necessary to put in the ingredients of intensity, commitment and fight to bring back a positive result from Agen. Where it is always difficult to fight, especially this season against a team which currently occupies eleventh place in the standings and is therefore navigating in the soft underbelly. But, who could, if successful, get closer to the top 6.
The Return of George North
Hence a real opportunity for Provence Rugby to offer an effective performance and thus a long-awaited reward since the start of the season. “We wanted to be together for three days before the match to properly prepare for this first match of the year after two weeks of vacation, specifies Aix general manager Mauricio Reggiardo. This is why we left Aix on Wednesday morning. We prepare with desire, with seriousness and enthusiasm. We also know that these restart matches are always tricky and difficult for all the teams. We remember last year in Grenoble where we took a rugby lesson at the beginning of January. So, yes, we will have to perform well together and stay focused and connected to get this return phase off to a good start. We are going to recover senior players during the month of January, there is the return of George North, we can’t wait to do battle and resume competition. I would say that our medium-term objective is always to do better than last year but in the short term, it is to win our first away match!” Provence Rugby has done everything to put its players in the right condition to succeed in this recovery on Agen soil. Indeed, the return of Welsh international George North, ten months after his ruptured Achilles heel, is the focus of all attention and it is logical. We expect a lot from such a player, such a leader on the pitch, but let’s give him time to get the good feelings back before giving the best of himself. For now, Provence Rugby has only one goal in mind: to start 2025 with a victory!
