Faced with the powerful English, the Ile-de-France residents intend to make their offensive strike force speak, to clinch a place in the semi-finals of the European Cup.
Everyone at Racing 92 repeats it: “The European Cup is the club’s priority.” After three finals lost in 2016, 2018 and 2020, the Sky and White intend that 2022 be the good one. The path to the final is clear: President Jacky Lorenzetti’s players will have the advantage of the field, in the quarter-finals at the Arena against the English of Sale, then if they qualify, they will receive the Stade Rochelais in Lens which eliminated Montpellier on Saturday. Royal Road ?
Not that much, we will first have to scrap hard, this Sunday (4 p.m.), with Sale’s “Sharks” and their pack of golgoths. “It’s a very powerful team, with very high level players. They have a direct, frontal game with very powerful, very heavy players., warns Gaël Fickou. How then to shake them up? “In this case, you are often less enduring, so it is up to us to make them run, to divert them, to put them under pressure… It will not be easy: we will have to counter them. It’s up to us to have the ball too because if they don’t have it, they will be less dangerous too.continues the international center.
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His manager Laurent Travers also highlights the fierce battle that is looming at Paris La Défense Arena. “It’s a team that is very, very solid in terms of its forward package, which has seven South Africans out of eight, only the prop is English and he plays in the England team and therefore a lot of world champions. », underlines the manager of Sky and White. After experiencing difficulties within its pack at the start of the season, Racing 92 – with its new forwards coach Didier Casadéi – became conquerors again.
If we don’t respond to the fight, and we know it’s going to be tough, because they’re going to offer us a lot of intensity and aggressiveness, we won’t be in half
Laurent Travers
The month of March had been difficult to manage with setbacks in Perpignan (34-13) then in La Rochelle (19-0) but, since then, Henry Chavancy and his teammates have resumed the march forward, signing five successes in a row , (three against Stade Français Paris). There, the Ile-de-France residents know that a major challenge awaits them against Manu Tuilagi, Tom Curry and other Lood de Jager or Jean-Luc du Preez. “If we don’t respond to the fight, and we know it’s going to be tough, because they’re going to offer us a lot of intensity and aggressiveness, we won’t be in the half. It’s up to us to raise our cursor, we may never have encountered this kind of package of forwards, “ insists Laurent Travers again.
This season, the offensive strike force – with its three-star three-quarter line – is running at full speed with more than 30 points scored on average, for only nine conceded. And the Hauts-de-Seine club can reassure themselves by saying that they have won their last six home matches against English teams. Except that he has never crossed paths with Sale, a Manchester suburban club currently seventh in the Premiership, which has won only three of its last seven matches in all competitions (three losses, one draw). “We may be smaller and less sturdy, we will know how to be smarter”, advances Laurent Travers. Not tall but valiant, it’s the right time.