Heavily beaten in Pau on Saturday (3-40), the Tarnais will prepare for the last two Top 14 games without having anything to win. Unless favorable conditions.
Some supporters saw their Castres Olympique sign a comeback that would have gone down in the annals of the Top 14. The CO had made a huge comeback after Pierre-Henry Broncan took over as manager in December 2020, going from 13th in 7th place. But there, the blow would have been even crazier. However, the heavy defeat conceded on the lawn of the Section Paloise (3-40) put an end to the dreams of certain irreducible optimists. The eventual full card from Castres flew to the Hameau and with it, almost all of the stakes at the end of the season.
In particular, and this is at least the positive point of the weekend, the maintenance. With the setback suffered by Perpignan in Lyon (31-41), the CO now has a 10-point lead over USAP and its 13th place, with only two days left and therefore, at best, 10 points to take. And when we know that the Catalans will host Stade Toulousain next Saturday, before visiting Pierre-Fabre two weeks later, the planets, solar systems and galaxies should be aligned simultaneously.
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Even if the Olympian center Adrien Séguret is not yet claiming victory: “It’s not done mathematically. Having played the maintenance last year in Pro D2, I know that you have to remain serious until the end, to as much as anything is possible in this championship.” Where we can join the ex-Grenoblois is that Perpignan will have very long teeth since Brive has returned to four points from the Sang et Or, which still prevents them from operating the same strategy as the previous year, namely to focus on the access match.
“Wash off the affront” in Brive
The CAB precisely, will be on the menu of the CO this weekend. The Amédée-Domenech stadium will also be the scene of a goal for this end of the Tarn season, or rather a promise. “We will have to wash away the affront of Pau”, let go of Séguret. The “blue and white” will show the ambition to get back to the place in order to end a moribund exercise on a good note. “I don’t want to see a Castres team that doesn’t respect its jersey and doesn’t put the ingredients inherent in our DNA, scolded manager Jeremy Davidson, who will find Corrèze for the first time since his official dismissal in December. low, it will be even more difficult than in Pau, so let’s work hard this week and respond.”
The only thing that Castres can – possibly – think about is to grab the top 8. “If we put more into it than against Pau on the meetings to come perhaps. But if we stay like that, it is clear that not “, breathed captain Mathieu Babillot. The five points behind the 8th, Bayonne, can be made up. On condition of winning in Brive and for the last against USAP, and hoping for a misstep from the teams in front. Still, that’s a lot. But hey, in this Top 14 2022/2023, we are no longer surprised by anything.
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