This Saturday, in a well-stocked Kings Park Stadium, Antoine Dupont and his team challenge the Durban Sharks in a clash that smells like gunpowder in every way.
The first trip in the history of the Rouge et Noir to South Africa, the return of Antoine Dupont to the rainbow country or even the “revenge” of the World Cup. More than a match, this Sharks – Stade Toulousain is a real shock, in which the stories and the past between the players contribute to making the event exceptional. And all Rugby followers agree that this match on the 3rd day of the Champions Cup is, by far, the most exciting at the start of the year.
Arriving on Monday on the African continent, first in Cape Town, to pay their respects on the beach of Diaz Beach, where the young Medhi Narjissi tragically went during last summer, the Rouge et Noir experienced a week applied in Durban, motivated by the desire to appear in the most beautiful way on the lawn of Kings Park Stadium: “We had a very rich week in many aspects. There was this long journey which was a first for us (…) This very special moment for Medhi’s (Narjissi) family that we all experienced together (…) Afterwards we headed towards Durban to delve into the preparation for the match. Today, we are ready, says international second row Thibaut Flament.
In any case, there will be lessons to learn.
Ugo Line
With a clear objective in mind: to leave the southern hemisphere with five points in their pocket to maintain the lead of their group, in which the Unionists of Louis Bielle-Biarrey still constitute a significant threat. If some could doubt it, it is therefore with its armada, with a few exceptions (Alexandre Roumat injured in a muscle), that Stade Toulousain arrived at the start of the week in South Africa. “Our squad allowed us to send here a team that we consider competitive, and in fact, we have even been criticized for it. In any case, whatever the result, we will have lessons to learn from what we have experienced this week on a rugby level.explains Toulouse manager Ugo Mola.
A five-star poster
Of course, the Europeans always have difficulty understanding what the South African teams are doing in this competition, but their presence at least has the merit of offering us interesting encounters. This in the first place, since it constitutes a sort of European Rugby Super Cup, pitting the last winners of the Challenge Cup and the Champions Cup against each other, and bringing together several major players in the quarter-final of the World Cup. 2023 lost by the XV of France against the Springboks.
Ugo Mola makes no mistake: “All criteria are brought to the climax of high intensity, volume, confrontation and duels. Obviously, we want to see what clashes like Etzebeth will bring (ultimately forfeited, Editor’s note) against Meafou, Kolisi against Cros or even Hendriske against Dupont.
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He, in fact, will be in the spotlight this afternoon. The Olympic champion arrived as a superstar in Durban and is, moreover, the only player in the Rouge et Noir squad to have already set foot on the pitch at Kings Park Stadium, in 2017 against the Springboks, during a tour of summer with the XV of France. Antoine Dupont has not been seen on the field for a month and will very quickly have to – and we have very few doubts about his ability to do so – rise to the occasion, against a team that likes to impose a significant physical challenge from the first minutes of his matches.
“One of the biggest events of the season”
The Haut-Garonnais have, so far, had a royal start to the season. Only problem? This defeat at home against UBB last October, during which a few executives were still missing (Dupont and Willis in the first place). With their full squad and facing a strong home team (the Sharks have never lost at home in the competition), it is a first real test in the Rouge et Noir season, Thibaut Flament concedes: “It may not be the summit, but this match is one of the very big events of the season, hence the importance of leaving with victory.”
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If the opponent, who says he plays in the queen of European competitions “to win it”seems within the reach of Toulouse residents, it is above all the atmosphere and the conditions that will have to be understood. Away, so far from their base, in a stadium unknown to most of the squad, Ugo Mola’s men know the scale of the challenge that awaits them. That, and the weather. While France is in the heart of winter, South Africa is on summer time. Indeed, the temperature should be around 30 degrees and the meeting should take place with high humidity, which could make the balloons difficult to handle. “We have to make do, even if it’s not necessarily practical. Playing under 5 degrees one week, then under 30 degrees a few days later, it’s hard for us and our body. breathes Antoine Dupont.
We know that Stade Toulousain is not the type to make the trip empty, and the expression takes on its full meaning here. In South Africa, the Rouge et Noir are playing an important part of their season: an improved victory and the royal road, or a defeat, and the European adventure would be greatly complicated. “This match is part of our initiatory journey”proclaims Ugo Mola, who knows better than anyone the ability of his players to raise their level of play when the moment demands it.
