After the defeat in Bayonne on Saturday (10-41), the players appeared marked. The word character comes up often, but it will take more to maintain. However, the group does not say it is worried.
The drop of water has already broken the camel’s back. Results and internal problems cost Pierre-Henry Broncan his place as head coach last Monday. And if the new manager Jeremy Davidson was still only in the observation phase this week, he was able to realize that the overflow was not completely evacuated. Since he could see the impotence of his team on Saturday on the lawn of Jean-Dauger, overwhelmed – precisely – by Bayonne (10-41).
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ANALYSIS. Top 14: Castres carried away by the passion of Aviron Bayonnais
The reverse is heavy, both in score and meaning. The CO remains on three defeats in a row, with more than 30 pawns, in the Top 14, and can at least be satisfied that its other direct competitors for maintenance have, like it, not taken a single point this weekend.
However, the Castres players came out of this meeting in the Basque Country very marked. Heads lowered, disillusioned. ” It is a set. Defeat is difficult, it’s true, especially in this kind of situation. Tonight (Saturday) morale will be low. We must know how to switch and move forward, to go back to battle. We have to do it now, “said the Tarn right pillar Wilfrid Hounkpatin.
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INTERVIEW. “The group is not going to let go” certifies manager Jeremy Davidson after the defeat of Castres Olympique in Bayonne (10-41)
Words that call for action. Because if the term “character” often comes up in the mouths of Castres – and it is undeniable that the “blue and white” have it, they proved it with their start to the match in Bayonne and during other performances this season, as in Toulouse – the character alone will not be enough to scratch his survival in the elite.
A group that remains united
Without solid conquest, without consistency or control, or even without discipline, in itself all that it lacked in Bayonne, Castres Olympique will drool until the end. Deep and recurring problems since the start of the championship and which still do not seem to be on the way to being resolved. What arouse some concern about the sequence of events.
Despite the many warning signs sent by the field, the vice-champions of France claim not to panic. “I’m not worried,” said scrum-half Santiago Arata. I have confidence in our group, our staff and our coach. We will get out of this. “ And Hounkpatin to abound in the same direction: “I would be concerned if I observed a group which is disintegrating. Which is not the case. I really feel a group spirit, a single will. And it is by going in the same direction that we will manage to obtain this maintenance. We owe it to a lot of people. When I see so many supporters making the trip… They are there. »
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Top 14 – indiscipline, this evil that never ends, Castres Olympique beaten in Bayonne this Saturday (10-41)
Presence, the Olympians will need it during a month of March, certainly light in matches, but heavy in stakes with two delicate receptions. Lyon next Saturday – the team currently in the best shape in this Top 14 – then Toulouse, which could bring in several internationals at the end of March after a holiday period. “We will have to be tough on ourselves. We have another chance to prove things next week. I can tell you that we are going to prepare well for the arrival of Lyon. That’s for sure,” Arata said with determination. In order to avoid further weighing down the current context. Because if the vase has already overflowed, it is better to be wary that it does not burst during these next two days.