Top 14 – The teaching of the 5th day: the burst of pride of Ile-de-France

It is an understatement to say that the two Ile-de-France clubs, Racing 92 and Stade français, were on the verge of a nervous breakdown before the start of this 5th day. Note that faced with the storm, the two entities had reacted in a very disparate way. The Porte d’Auteuil club, convinced that the stagnation specific to the start of the championship required an electric shock, decided to part ways with its head coach Karim Ghezal and on this subject, the sports director of the Parisian entity, Laurent Labit, declared immediately: “We decided to stop our collaboration with Karim. I take responsibility for it. We had imagined a collaboration and an organization. It is clear that there were some dysfunctions, some discrepancies, in certain areas, certain subjects. This is why we decided to stop […] It’s not just a question of choice of players, of staff, there are also questions of training, vision of the game. You have to be aligned at a minimum. And if we’re not… Before it goes too far, before things start to clash, it’s better to leave on good terms. It’s happening and I’m sure Karim will bounce back and have a great career.”

Lancaster would not have been fired in the event of a defeat at Vannes

The “punch” operation carried out by the Pink Soldiers has, at the same time, given rise to a reshuffle in the capital – Julien Tastet now taking care of the sector of conquest in its entirety when the Englishman Paul Gustard is now the head coach – and a reaction against Montpellier, another club also under tension: Saturday afternoon, the Parisians did the job, without shining, at the same time relaunching a season that had been strong up to now badly barred.

Fifteen kilometers away? The old lady of Hauts-de-Seine certainly coughed into her handkerchief and was more agitated than usual, before visiting the pretty Morbihan stadium. During the week, Laurent Travers and Jacky Lorenzetti called for the revolt of their players, when Stuart Lancaster’s speech was more biting than usual but never, ever, the former coach of the XV de la Rose , in office for a little over a year, was not directly threatened. “Trust !”a Racingman even wrote to us on Thursday evening, when we asked him what the future of the sporting boss of Ciel et Blanc would be like in the event of defeat in Vannes.

From then on? There was no defeat in Brittany and whatever one thinks of the Ile-de-France content – feverish, fragile, sluggish – at La Rabine, Gaël Fickou’s teammates, whether we watch him or not, raised their heads and stopped the bleeding. Is this the start of a new season for them? Toulon’s reception this weekend in Créteil will say more…