The only elite team not yet to have won, Perpignan unlocked their counter against Clermont. With the bonus and the way.
“OWe had the feeling that they were waiting to know where we stood. But the players quickly made them understand that they were there.” Saturday, when meeting again after months of long-distance relationship, Usap and its supporters were divided between excitement and apprehension, as David Marty recounted so well afterwards. The first three days, concluded by so many disappointments of varying degrees, had thrown a slight disturbance into the middle of the idyll: “With three initial defeats, we had to make up for it”evokes Jefferson-Lee Joseph. “It was time to win”confirms Lucas Velarte, still marked by the passage through Béziers and the feeling of “shame” brought back from Hérault after a shocking clash against Montpellier (7-26).
Returning home, finally, Usap quickly returned to its good local habits: dominant in impacts and inspired with ball in hand, the blood and gold team moved from words to deeds under the eyes of some 14,000 spectators (re ) conquered. This success is as much a trigger as it materializes a rise in power that was until then too timid: “On commitment and what we wanted to do, we responded to Castres (27-12, N.D.L.R.) and that had been reassuring, recalls David Marty. We had the feeling that it was coherent but it’s only the points that count.” On Saturday, the Perpignans logically won five at the end of a game controlled throughout: “There are really positive things. We particularly put them under pressure, which we had lacked in the first three games. We had a tendency to exhaust ourselves to get into the scoring zone. There, we succeeded. quite easily.”
“The opportunity to confirm” at home
As he so hoped, the Aimé-Giral public found last year’s offensive armada, the one which finished second in the championship in the number of attempts with 80 goals. This blowback was made possible by the performance of the troops in the ground game with an astonishing – not to say incalculable – number of ammunition recovered in the rucks: “We have insisted on this sector since the start of the year, we were not rewarded in the first matches but there, it paid off, likes Lucas Velarte. We found accuracy. We must keep it to remain consistent in this area.”
The winners of the day were unanimous on another point: if it allowed them to open the success counter and leave the red zone, this first victory is only a starting point. Especially since the second stage of their ascent will be held again in Perpignan, against Pau, on Saturday. The speech is perfect for David Marty and his family: “We have the opportunity to confirm, it’s up to us to do it. We have to savor this performance but also learn from the second half where we had less possession, less precision. The key is to be consistent over 80 minutes.” And this over weeks, months. In the meantime, USAP is launched. The supporters asked for nothing else for their return home.
