To win a precious improved victory against Rouen (23-9), a direct competitor, US Carcassonne was able to show itself uncompromising in the conquest phases, this Friday evening.
This Friday evening, in their den of Albert-Domec, three-quarters of Carcassonne had ants in their legs. But before being able to make the gazelles play, you have to, in Rugby, show yourself clean in conquest. It was a good thing, in the drizzle at the start of the weekend, the yellow and black pack was going to be imperial in the touchline exercise. From the start, Bernard Goutta’s men imposed their mastery on the exercise. Raphaël Carbou on the throw, Etienne Herjean or Romain Manchia, his favorite targets and the USC locomotive activated its balloons.
“In today’s rugby, the most important thing is conquest”admits Mehadji Tidjini, three-quarter coach, satisfied to see that his foals were able to benefit from good balls. “Once you have your conquest, then you can put your game plan in place. When you have your game plan in place, we can talk about ruck, we can talk about reloading. But if your conquest is not dominant, you can’t play this sport.”
In the first quarter of an hour, the same pattern was repeated with the Audois dominating who made the Rouennais make mistakes (7 faults in a quarter of an hour), without however managing to score. By dint of persisting in the opposing five meters, the Audois were rewarded by obtaining a yellow card from the opposing team. Leleu collapsing a maul in the 9th minute and logically punished.
100% hits won
At one more, Gaëtan Pichon led his big guys to continue to drive the point home. USC finally crossed the line in the 18th minute after a maul collapsed by Kessler. A try and a second yellow card for the Normans. “We do 3-4 balls carried from the start, we said to ourselves, “we’ll rely on that throughout the match” and then it’s easier for the three-quarters to shine”explains flanker Ferdinand Dreno, in the oven and in the mill throughout the meeting.
In the scrum, the Arnold-Carbou-Akhobadze trio took the upper hand over the visitors and made the Domec bays roar, but it was the entire pack which stood out in its activity and its ability to move. “The big guys had a very good match, whether in terms of conquest, but also in their positioning, we were always first in all zones”praises the assistant coach. We often talk about being there before them, Bernard (Goutta) talk about that a lot and you’ve seen it over the last three games, we always try to be there before the others.”
In the second half, Raphael Carbou came out to the ovation of the stands after a 10/10 in the throw, well replaced by the young Baptiste Moreno who made his two throws to sign a flashy 12/12 and 100% in the exercise. A good victory and a strong defense, something to look forward to for the rest of the championship.
