Traveling to Toulouse this Saturday (4:30 p.m.), despite a reduced team, USAP wants to believe in its chances. But against the champions of France and Europe, who work well even without the internationals, it looks complicated. But not impossible!
Team B, Team C, Team S, Team Z… The composition of Stade Toulousain has been debated at length on the right and the left. In the end, despite the large fifteen absentees, Romain Ntamack, Anthony Jelonch, Jack Willis, Pita Ahki, Matthis Lebel, Santiago Chocobares, Pierre-Louis Barassi will be there around players, called rotation players, who are largely at the level . We saw it during the visit to Toulouse in March, where the young guard had bothered the USAP for a long time. But whatever. In Perpignan, that’s not what’s interesting. And that’s certainly not what the players and staff focused on for ten days. Because if, yes, there are perhaps a little more chance of beating this Stade Toulousain, the task is just as complicated.
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Especially when, very often, the USAP's main adversary externally is the USAP itself. The last trip to Racing 92 at the end of October proved it again. The blood and gold lost the defensive bonus in the 80th (30-23), which brought huge regrets. But with an apocalyptic start to the match with 24 points conceded in 25 minutes, it was hard to hope for anything else. It was also reminiscent of a certain trip to… Toulouse in November 2023 where, trailing 38-6 in the 44th minute, the Catalans finally lost 43-34. “It’s obvious that we can’t start matches like thatconcedes manager Franck Azéma. But saying it is one thing. We will have to see the efficiency we will have in relation to that, as well as the concentration. You can put whatever words you want there. When it starts, we have to be ready. Especially there”. “We really have to get into this match well and start from the ground up. Because we often start from too far behind”engages captain Jerónimo de la Fuente, who chose not to respond to the summons from the Pumas to stay with his teammates in Perpignan.
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Break the bad spiral outside
But what De la Fuente and his partners are absolutely looking for is this famous trigger on the outside. Last season, he arrived on December 31 in Castres (13-17), during the 11th day. Hey, we're on the 10th… The opponent isn't the same, nor is the challenge. Because since its comeback in 2021, USAP has never managed to win in a very big one in this championship. And with her new ambitions to establish herself and definitively anchor herself in this Top 14, she will have to succeed in doing so this season.
Otherwise, as Franck Azéma often repeats, with each home victory, you get closer to 6th place, and with each away defeat, you get closer to the red zone. This spiral, the blood and gold want to stop it. “We work, we have confidence in ourselves, in our team”assures De la Fuente, who had already spoken out on this subject after the debacle in Bordeaux a month ago. “Every time we go away, we have to be strong on defense like we are here at home. That's what I want as a team. No matter where we play, I want a defensive team very aggressive and doesn't concede points.”
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Not to relive such humiliation as in Bordeaux (66-12), not to return with the same regrets as after Bayonne (21-19) and Racing 92 (30-23), and not to lose everything at the end of the match , like in Castres (27-12)… Different scenarios away from Aimé-Giral, this team has already encountered quite a few since the start of the season. Let's see what will happen in Toulouse this Saturday, where the USAP will be able to count on the returns of Ali Crossdale, Alivereti Duguivalu, Jefferson-Lee Joseph, or even on the premiere of Max Hicks. “If there’s an opportunity, it’s now.”announces him, the Argentine captain. So it's time to play. And if, in 2024, Gabin Kretchmann could be the Gavin Hume of 2013*, then faces would only be lit up at the end of the meeting.
