Faced with the powerful team of Sale, Racing will be “maybe less sturdy, less tall but you will have to be smarter“, planned the Ile-de-France manager Laurent Travers before the quarter-final on Sunday.
«It’s a very, very solid team in terms of its forward package, with several South Africans and quite a few world champions. It is up to us to do what it takes to show that we are present. We may be less sturdy, less tall, but we will have to be smarter“, warned the manager of Racing 92, Laurent Travers, this Friday at a press conference. “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 have never encountered this kind of package of forwards“, added the Ile-de-France technician.
Because, in addition to the English internationals Ben and Tom Curry in the third row or the super-powerful center Manu Tuilagi (1.85m and 109 kg), the Sharks have a monstrous pack, including the world champion Lood de Jager (2, 06m; 125 kg) or the South Africans Jean-Luc du Preez (2.10m; 122 kg), Akker van der Merwe (1.78m; 108 kg) and Jono Ross (1.91m: 11 kg)…
“Sale has a direct, frontal game with very powerful, very heavy players. In this case, you are often less enduring so it is up to us to make them run. »
Gael Fickou
«It’s a very powerful team, with very high level players. They have a direct, frontal game with very powerful, very heavy players. 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“, abounded the international center Gaël Fickou.
Racing 92 faces the English of Sale, Sunday (4 p.m.), in the quarter-finals of the European Rugby Cup, their sixth since the 2014-2015 season.