After Montpellier beat Paris yesterday, Nantes returned as defending champions by winning at Aix (35:27).
While France was losing in the final of the World Cup, the players of Aix and Nantes entered the Arena, for a meeting announced as a trap for H. Stuck between the receptions of Barcelona and Paris, in front of a PAUC which had benefited from five days off from his European match, the journey was one of dangers.
It didn’t happen. Because the H took control from the first moments, thanks in particular to the stops of Ivan Pesic. Three goals ahead is the gap that Grégory Cojean’s men maintain for a good part of the first act, thanks to the success of Thibaud Briet. And if the Aixois bet only one length on the counterattack (16:17), it was only thanks to the clumsiness of the opponents, linked to the success of Matthieu Ong.
But it was only an illusion. Thierry Anti’s men conceded a 9:1 as they came out of the locker room. Even at seven they could not find their way to the Nantes cage, losing many balls. And when they arrived, they found Manuel Gaspar on their way, author of seven stops for the first of him with the Nantes shirt. And in thirteen minutes the H had bent the match, allowing himself the luxury of spinning wide apart in the last quarter of an hour. A rest offered to his managers by Greg Cojean who he was able to count on during the Paris Saint-Germain reception at Néodif XXL on Wednesday evening.
