The numbers are stubborn. Even if it is in the same rank as last season at the end of the first leg (11e), the SUA has 2 points less (31) than during an exercise completed at a poor 13e place. And yet, halfway between the jump-off (Valence Romans, 24 pts) and the first qualifier (Dax, 39 pts), Sébastien Calvet’s men can still maintain the hope of clinching the top 6 next May . From this perspective, January will be decisive.
With the successive receptions of Provence Rugby and Biarritz (Thursday January 16 at 9 p.m.), the Agenais not only have the opportunity to prove that they can rise to the level of the biggest Pro D2 teams, but also to get back together to the right car. The last outing in Brive (32-18) before the holidays was encouraging for an hour. But the last twenty minutes have still left serious doubts.
The premiere of North
To give themselves the right to dream again, the Agenais have no other option than to stock up on points in Armandie. The task promises to be difficult facing two “ambitious” people. And it’s not the defensive bonus point snatched in the first leg (21-18), the fact that Provence Rugby has never won in Armandie, or that this team is the only one in Pro D2 not to have gleaned the slightest success away from home during the first leg, which can reassure Julien Lebian’s partners.
“It’s a match that matters in particular for Mauricio Reggiardo and the former Agenais Andrès Zafra,” insists Sébastien Calvet. They came to win. » They arrived, with the Welsh icon George North (32 years old, 121 caps), this Thursday to set up on the pitch of AS Passage, just to acclimatize to the soft pitches, they which evolve usually on a synthetic. “We expect a game of occupation chess to win the prize at the exit. »
