CS Vienne faces a perilous trip to Niort for a chance at National 2 quarter-finals

Vienna has an appointment with a piece of its history this Sunday. Brilliantly maintained in National 2, its initial objective, the clothier club, 5^e from pool 1, can sublimate his season by winning a qualification on the ground of RC Niort, 4^e Pool 2. The Deux-Sèvres Rouge et Noir ended their season on a roll with four wins and a draw in their last five games and intend to continue the adventure, calibrated as they are to play the climb.

Buffevant: “We don’t travel to do extras”

“He is a serious, pragmatic adversary, analyzes the Viennese coach, Philippe Buffevant. And very rigorous in their patterns of play. They are very solid in closed scrum, there is experience with players like Antoine Lescamel [ouvreur passé par La Rochelle, ndlr] and speed with several Fijian players”. Third attack of his group with 515 points scored including 49 tries (434 points and 43 tries for Vienna, 7^e ), Niort will certainly be difficult to beat on his lawn, but the men of Buffevant must also believe in it with hard-hitting forwards like Pierre Chapelle or Ramiha Smiler and back lines animated by the inspirations of Malory Piet, the game at the foot of Julien Hervouet or the races of a Nicolas Onutu. “We are not moving to do extras, the sky and white technician still announces, we have the means to make a move there, it is up to us to play. »

On the defense side, the Viennese conceded 44 tries (7^e ) this season, against 35 for Niort, second defense of his group.

But the time is no longer for calculations: disputed over a single meeting, this play-off has everything of a cleaver match and it is without complex that the Viennese will enter the lawn of the Espinassou stadium this Sunday around 3:30 p.m. .

At the effective level, the Viennese staff only make two changes in their front eight since Kamil Bobryk and Charles-Adrien Massot will start as holders, like Julien Hervouet and Mathias Giovale. Hugo Pandolfo returns to full-back position, while Théo Brunel gives way to wing Hippolyte Massa.

The starting XV

Pandolfo – H. Massa, Onutu, Giovale, A. Grange (cap.) – (o) Hervouet, (m) Piet – C.-A. Massot, Smiler, Moroldo – Bastide, Chapel – C. Durand, Bobryk, Capuano. Replacements: Gibierge, Rocca, O’Flynn, S. Giroud, Jarguel, Porcher, Saïd-Omar, Balas-Burel.

➤ Niort: 4^e Group 2 with 68 points (11 wins, 4 draws, 7 losses, 4 offensive bonuses, 3 defensive). ➤ Vienna: 5^e from Pool 1 with 65 points (12 wins, 1 draw, 9 losses, 1 offensive bonus, 5 defensive).