IIt is precisely 8:29 p.m. this Saturday evening, October 19. Night has fallen on the Alain-Biramben stadium in La Teste-de-Buch where the Rugby Club Bassin d’Arcachon meets US Marmande in Nationale 2. A touch is played in the 22 meters lot-et-Garonnais and all Suddenly, everything goes out. More light. The audience screams. Everything is black: the sky, the pitch, the stands. “Definitely…” sighs a supporter. It must be said that the RCBA players are trailing 12 to 9 after having outrageously dominated the first thirty minutes, but by wasting much more than scoring.
We see light elsewhere, it was at the stadium that it exploded and only at the stadium. After four minutes, the announcer reassures everyone: “Don’t worry, it will come back!” » Besides, the light bulbs come on in the stands. But not on the lawn. The players from each team stand in a circle. We wait. The lights go out again in the stands. It’s long. The sound system plays “Emmenez-moi” by Aznavour. The audience sings. Behind the pines, the moon, very round and very bright, rises into the sky, slaloming through the clouds. Players run in the dark. Try to be ready. But it lasts…
“We don’t know where the breakdown comes from”
Finally, 30 minutes after the start of the breakdown, at 8:59 p.m., Maxime Rouquié, the referee, whistled three times. The match is interrupted. “It’s the rules,” he explains in the locker room. The technicians were pessimistic anyway. This is the first time this kind of thing has happened to me. » Still on the pitch, Didier Carpentey, the co-president of the RCBA, doesn’t really know what to say: “We don’t know where the breakdown comes from. Well, normally, it should be replayed later, starting again in the 46th minute, with the same score, the same players. Well, in these cases, you have to know how to take a step back. »
December 22?
The event is indeed extremely rare: a women’s France-England on April 30, 2021, an Agen-Nevers in Pro D 2 in April 2023 by a cut claimed by the CGT but the match resumed after thirty minutes.
“In the dark, we tried to stay together, to run, but without passing each other, because obviously, without light, it’s less easy! »
“Ha, it’s unprecedented,” smiles Nils Guyon, Marmande’s winger. This had never happened to me! Well, it’s a shame, we were leading. We found ourselves well in defense after suffering throughout the start of the match. In the dark, we tried to stay together, to run, but without passing each other, because obviously, without light, it’s less easy! Afterwards, it creates memories. And cohesion. »
The third half, prepared and announced throughout the evening by the RCBA announcer, still took place!
David Patsouris
In the RCBA locker room, David Banquet, the coach, admitted that he had never experienced that either: “We will resume the match a priori on December 22. » But it’s not the breakdown that concerns him: “I’m trying to understand how we can dominate to this extent without scoring…” The pillar Edgard Mamfoumby, not yet showered, blows kisses to friends. “When everything goes out, we stick together, we believe in it. We had just passed three points. Pfff, that sucks. The match will have to be restarted in the 46th minute. It’s going to be weird, you’ll have to be at full throttle! »
By the way, with a match interrupted, is there still a third half? “Oh yes! On ! »
