The Rochelais have not had four consecutive victories in the Top 14 since February 2023, the year they reached the championship final and the Champions Cup title. After three consecutive successes, Sébastien Boboul’s players want to take advantage of the relocation from Bayonne to Saint-Sébastien to recall good memories and consolidate their position as leader of the championship.
Four victories in five days: we have to go back to the 2022-2023 season to find traces of such a great start to the Stade Rochelais season. Ironically, the Rochelais had not managed the 5/6 after a defeat against Bayonne, next weekend’s opponent. But it was in Jean-Dauger, in the boiling atmosphere of a stadium which does not really succeed in the Maritimes.
Two years later, the Yellow and Black have the opportunity to achieve a fourth consecutive success and a second victory in three trips, to assert their status as co-leader of the Top 14 and send a strong message to the competition. The advantage is that the meeting will not be played in Jean-Dauger, but in Saint-Sébastien, in the lair of Anoeta, a land of misfortune for the Bayonnais for two seasons, unlike the Rochelais who lived there a highlight in 2023 with a qualification full of mastery
Sébastien Boboul, the person responsible for the attack, remembers: “We’re happy to go back because it’s still a good memory from two years ago. It’s always nice to play in a big stadium, and I think there will be a lot of fans who will do displacement.” International left pillar Reda Wardi completes: “Playing in front of 40,000 people, in such conditions and against a great team like Aviron, motivates us even more.”
Our system is relatively the same
This first big month of competition, marked by conquering performances, offers the Charentais-Maritimes the confidence necessary to move with ambition. Since the first match against Toulon, where a strong desire to move the ball more quickly was felt – “see space”, as Ronan O’Gara would say – there is a lot of talk about the game project on the banks of the Atlantic and a possible evolution towards attack. The figures are there: 2.65 trials registered on average in 2023-2024 compared to 4.2 since September. However, listening to Reda Wardi, there was no revolution in the maritime city. “Our game hasn’t changed that much. This season, we have efficient three-quarters, and we notice that they really manage to score and thwart the opponent. But our system remains relatively the same.” How can we explain this emerging improvement? “Having these five weeks and spending more time togetherexplains the French international. We had time to work. Sometimes we won our first away match in January, which added pressure on us at home.”
All while taking care not to overplay, as manager O’Gara emphasized after the victory snatched in Créteil against Racing. Sébastien Boboul warns: “With our power, we have assets that cannot be neglected. We cannot play ball simply for pleasure, to please people. If we have to be a little more reductive in our game to physically score the ‘opponentwe will.”
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