Final day for Mauléon players. After beating Gruissan and Isle-Jourdain in back and forth matches, and Orléans on the wire in the semi-final (34-32), SAM reached the final step of a long season. Facing him, the Swiss from Servette Genève. The match will be played this Sunday (3 p.m.) on the lawn of the Michel-Millet stadium, in Adge, in Hérault. In play, the Federal 1 shield…
The sun is out and the players took advantage of it from the start of the day by going to the beach to start up the organizations.
Adge beach served as a setting for the Mauléonnais for their muscular awakening.
Peio Benac
All the players and staff then met for a video session to analyze one last time the strong and weak points of this Swiss team which beat Castelsarrasin and Issoire in the round trip and Stade Nantais in the semi-finals. final (18-10).
As a reminder, the Basques already faced Geneva last season at the round of 16 stage last season. Winner of a short header at home, in the first leg (13-10), Mauléon lost to his opponent (26-10). The Swiss lost in the next round, in the quarter-finals, against Langon, future champion of France.
Peio Benac
Last quiet video session for the Mauléonnais, a little over 4 hours before the match.
Everyone remembers this incredible emotional sequence initiated by the coach of the Toulouse football club, Pascal Dupraz, when his team was fighting for their survival in 2020. We saw the families of the players sending them a video message of encouragement.
Since then, many clubs have resumed this moment of emotion before major events. The SAM players had theirs at the end of the morning with videos of former club coaches like Sébastien Jaca, Arnaud Héguy and Christophe Desassis, but also Mauléonnais players from Aviron Bayonnais such as Camille Lopez and Yohan Orabe.
Peio Benac
To recover from these few emotions and the instructions from the staff on the strategy to adopt once on the field, the meal is welcome for the entire Mauléonnais group.
When leaving the table, the players were entitled to one last moment of break. The traditional games of ping-pong and cards have found their fans.
P.B.
Opener Pette Hontaas, son of the team’s coach, Philippe, works on his backhand and forehand…
P.B.
…While the pillar, Christophe Larramendy, thinks about his strategy for his game of belote.
The second emotional sequence occurs when the jerseys are handed over. A new word of encouragement for this always special match is given to each player on the match sheet. Then, the players gathered their belongings to prepare to travel to the Michel Millet stadium in Agde.
On the way from their bus to the stadium, the superb surprise of the Basque supporters who came in large numbers to accompany and encourage their players! It is a red and white tide which serves as a guard of honor. Enough to add to the motivation already close to maximum for the team.
The Mauléonnais took the path to the stadium in their bus with a path opened by a swarm of supporters in red and white.
Upon arrival at the stadium, the players went onto the pitch to get a better feel for the conditions. They also passed in front of the object so coveted by all rugby players of all levels, the shield. The kick-off of the match is fast approaching….
P.B.
Scrum half Matias Brocal did not skimp on taking his bearings on the pitch at the Michel Millet stadium!
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All this, for this coveted piece of wood!
After getting their bearings in the locker room, the players came out to warm up. Tension and pressure build. To face them, SAM can always count on its supporters who have also marked their territory in the stands!
P.B.
SAM supporters did not come to Hérault empty-handed…
The return to the locker room before kick-off was incredible with the encouragement and fervor of the public, which really came in numbers from Mauléon. The players will be galvanized and will be keen to successfully enter the game.
Final moment of emotion with the last words of the group before finally returning to the pitch… Opposite, the Swiss are certainly waiting for the Mauléonnais with firm footing. The Geneva club has made nine appearances in ten seasons.
With authorization from the French Rugby Federation, they started at the lowest level before climbing the divisions one after the other and thus moving up to Nationale 2, like Mauléon, next season. But there will only be one team to lift the shield this Sunday.
Despite the encouragement of the Basque public and the determination of the players, the game was complicated for Mauléon, trailed 16-3 at half-time by the Swiss. The opposing goal line seems impassable and things don’t get better after the locker room…
The score will no longer move. The Mauléonnais lost in the final, weapons in hand, against a team from Servette Genève which gave them too little chance of believing in it. With three tries to 0, the step was a little too high but the course will remain in the memories of SAM and all its supporters.
See you in Nationale 2, whose rise was already validated since the semi-finals, for more than tempting derbies against Anglet and Saint-Jean-de-Luz, recently saved by the administrative relegation of Cognac by the FFR.
