the essential
The CO winger, author of a double on Saturday November 23 against La Rochelle (28-24), has had a more than solid start to the season. Here he is on the basis of an exercise which could be his most successful.
When asked since when he last scored a double, Geoffrey Palis replied with humor and a smile: “Phew, probably since the cadets. » Quit aside, it’s been a while since the Gaillacois crossed the line twice. Almost four years. The last time was in January 2021, during a success against Agen (39-23), again at Pierre-Fabre. Yesterday, during the victory against La Rochelle (28-24), his two achievements weighed in the balance. The first to launch his team perfectly into the game (10-3, 10), the second to complete an almost perfect half (25-6, 34).
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“Obviously I’m happy to have scored twice. But hey, I only ran 10 meters on each try,” noted a modest Palis, thus giving thanks to his teammates – and to Julien Dumora, his appointed decisive passer on Saturday – who had done the work before. “We attacked in the right areas,” he continued. We had seen that La Rochelle often closed its defense until the 15th, so we managed to gain the necessary depth in order to bring the ball to these corridors. This is what we try to do regularly, but it doesn’t always work well. There, it worked, and that’s so much the better. »
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A season-long test record almost already reached
And that’s also good for the 33-year-old winger. Because this double further highlights his quality start to the season. After having experienced two more difficult exercises, like his club, Geoffrey Palis has regained his splendor this year. First replacing the injured Julien Dumora at the back, the former SCA player has returned to the winger position for three days, where competition is nevertheless tough. He has also made three tries in as many matches in 11 or 14, which currently brings his total to five goals, more than any other Castres player, making him the 3rd scorer in the Top 14. With this total, he is already flirting with his record for tries in a season under the colors of the CO (six in 2015/2016, 2019/2020 and 2020/2021).
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The season is still long, but it could well be one of superlatives for the winger, who also gave of himself in defense by pushing Thomas into touch (80) or by stopping certain La Rochelle movements (48). In simple statistics, he is at the top of quite a few rankings in his team: most used player at CO (620 minutes, 4th in the championship), 2nd Tarnais in meters covered (515, behind Papali’i and his 626 meters ).
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Without forgetting all the good, sometimes unquantifiable, that he brings to his family in his ability to cover the ground and to excel in the kicking game, in the running game or on the penatouches. His skill on high balls – we saw it again, yesterday, on an overhand which he recovered by dominating Leyds (65) – risks also proving valuable for the CO in view of the change of regulations concerning “escorts”. Even the new rules seem to want to make Palis shine this season.
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