2023-12-15 02:13:09
Beaten at home by Harlequins at the start of the competition, the leaders of the Top 14 face a serious test of character on Saturday on the Ulster pitch.
A big slap. The first since the arrival of Stuart Lancaster. Last Sunday, Racing 92 suffered a setback in its Nanterre Arena by losing to Harlequins (28-31). “We were a bit knocked out standing on Sunday. We were convinced that we were going to get this victory”recognizes the Ile-de-France opener Antoine Gibert. “It’s a disappointing defeat. Lancaster continued. Especially because we came back before halftime and then led 28-17 with 15 minutes left to play. We let them score two tries to get back in front. But there are some good lessons to learn from this match. We managed to get two points. All points will count.
It was in defense that Racing 92 completely thwarted: the Londoners, led by a furious Marcus Smith, beat 42 defenders. A crippling open day at this level of competition. “This match is like our last season, where we were efficient in attack but where we had small flaws in defense, points to Antoine Gibert. There were quite a few missed tackles, everyone made their own little mistake.” His teammate, the second or third row Baptiste Chouzenoux, highlights failures “in precision, commitment and match management”. And to press: “We were weak on the rucks, it’s a question of technique but also of commitment. We also made ourselves move at the start of the match.”
“Accounting, we will need an away victory”
However, Ile-de-France residents want to be positive. All is not lost, far from it, in this condensed formula of four group matches. “We obviously talked about this defeat, there are points to improve but everything is not to be thrown away, poursuit Chouzenoux. We start with confidence but we know that the Champions Cup is four matches and that we must not let too many points go.” Saturday’s trip to Ravenhill, the hostile Ulster compound in Belfast, “arrives at the right time to regain the confidence we had at the start of the season, underlines Antoine Gibert. You shouldn’t see everything in black. This match in Ireland, in the cold and windy, is perfect for regaining confidence in defense.”
Stuart Lancaster, who ruled the province of Leinster for a long time, knows the place perfectly. “I won a few times there, I also lost a few times there. It’s never an easy match there. I expect that to still be the case.”, he warns. The English technician emphasizes that Ulster is “a very proud team, which has a very strong identity. His supporters are passionate people. They have achieved numerous successes in Europe. They are very motivated. They are very strong on fundamentals. For our part, we have to be better at this, we have to be more coherent and strong in conquest, in defense, in our attitudes to contact.
A second setback in a row would seriously undermine Racing’s ambitions in this competition, the possibility of receiving in eighth or quarter would disappear definitively. “Accounting, we will need an away victory since we lost a home match. We are preparing for a hostile context, in winter, in a stadium that we do not know,” warns Baptiste Chouzenoux. But Stuart Lancaster is less alarmist: “A victory is not essential because we can qualify by winning two matches. Our goal above all remains to qualify.” It would then be necessary, in the event of a misstep in Belfast, to perform flawlessly, at the start of 2024, against the English in Bath (January 14), then at home against the Welsh in Cardiff (January 20).
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