Champions Cup – Three men in the match: Tyler Ardron, Mathieu Babillot and Abraham Papali’i in full swing

“Un carrier, a jumper and a scraper” : that’s it in a few words a beautiful description of the Castres third line made by Xavier Sadourny. A few minutes after the final whistle, the brand new CO manager was smiling. Asked about the performance of the Mathieu Babillot-Abraham Papali’i-Tyler Ardron trio, the former opener inevitably opened the box of compliments. “They complement each other very well. These are three different styles but which complement each other perfectly. They’re performing well, we’re taking advantage of it and that’s good for the future.” It’s hard to contradict Sadourny. On the lawn of Pierre-Fabre, the three guys had a remarkable match.

From the first seconds, it was Ardron who stood out with sharp tackles. In a Castres team not really in its mood during the first minutes, the Canadian international held the house. Shortly before the half-hour mark, he intercepted a South African throw-in before seeing… Mathieu Babillot flatten behind the line a few seconds later. An attempt refused but it is rather the two main characters of this action that we wanted to highlight at the time. “We have different profilesnotes the captain of the CO. Tyler is very active and aerial while Abraham is a big ball carrier. At three, we try to make the link between the forwards and the three-quarters. We do our best so when it works it’s positive!”

Abraham Papali’i, let’s talk about it. Rather discreet in the first act against the Bulls, the New Zealander did not take long to shine in the second with a race of which he has the secret over several tens of meters. An intervention which had the merit of warming up the Tarn public, who really needed it on this cool evening.

Function overruns

Already author of a try as a winger against the Pau Section during the last day of Top 14, Mathieu Babillot almost did it again this Saturday. The Castres number 6 found himself several times in the right lane. Served in good conditions on two occasions, it allowed his team to gain precious meters. During his second decisive race, “Bab’s” had the luxury of clearing a South African defender with disconcerting ease. A few seconds later, Rémy Baget scored the try which launched the CO festival in the last quarter of an hour. Facing the journalists, the flanker had a smile when talking about these positions in the corridors. While the blue and white staff have seen players like Baptiste Delaporte or Baptiste Cope seriously injured in recent weeks, three men are piling up very good performances in the third line. To the delight of Castres who are well on their way to qualifying.