The Ile-de-France club, suffering a severe lack of confidence, has been collecting yellow cards since the start of the season. A recurring illness that hampers his ambitions.
On a (well) downward slope. Racing 92 is experiencing a chaotic season, with a series of disappointments, inconsistent results, dull at best, mediocre at worst. Add to this major extra-sporting turmoil (announced departure of Laurent Travers and squad of Camille Chat), we are far from the ambitions displayed for a club which has played the leading roles since its return to the elite in 2009-2010 and which raised the Brennus Shield in 2016.
In the Top 14, the Ciel et Blanc are adrift, only ninth with three small points ahead of the 13th and play-off (Stade Français). “We also have to look down, we talked about staying in the locker room,” admitted full-back Max Spring after the defeat in Toulon.
One element is unmistakable and reveals the current feverishness of the Altoséquanais club: it has received 24 yellow cards in 16 matches in all competitions. With Cameron Woki as a bad student: three yellows and one red for the French international. An indiscipline that is costly. What the English manager Stuart Lancaster, former coach of the XV de la Rose and ex-member of the Leinster staff, recognized: “Personally, I have never had this problem in my career. Even last season I never had this problem. But this year, it’s complicated.”
It’s even stronger when a referee tells you in training that it’s forbidden to do certain things
Stuart Lancaster
And the Ile-de-France technician continues, recognizing that he called on the former international referee Mathieu Raynal to resolve this problem and “understand what we could do better in terms of discipline”. “We will train with referees to try to discipline ourselves. It’s even stronger when a referee tells you in training that it’s forbidden to do certain things. The referee referees science, I train the players and I can watch every detail of the players while the referee referees,” he detailed.
In the Champions Cup, a competition that is nevertheless refereed differently than the Top 14, the problem remains the same. If the two yellow cards received by Tuisova (78th) and Diallo (19th) had no consequences against the Harlequins in Créteil, the one received by Baudonne (60th) corresponded to the wreck suffered on the Sale lawn.
To make matters worse before Friday’s crucial trip to the Scots in Glasgow, the refereeing will still evolve (and in the middle of the season). New experimental rules promoted by World Rugby and intended to make the game more fluid will in fact be applied from this weekend in the Champions Cup, in order to “to encourage speed, spaces and contest phases”.
“We’re trying to really focus more on rugby and move on to something else”
If they want to stay alive in the Champions Cup, and continue to believe in the round of 16, the Racingmen (triple finalists of the competition in 2016, 2018 and 2020) will have to learn to control themselves and regain a certain discipline: the year last time, the Ile-de-France residents received 18 yellow cards, but over the entire season.
The priority is to find a little serenity after the latest episode, that of the departure of Camille Chat who had been at the club for 13 years. “It’s been hard, but we’re trying to really focus more on rugby and move on.” underlines Ile-de-France captain Ibrahim Diallo. A now unimportant detail: the former Racing hooker had not received any card this season in five matches played.
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