Our hopefuls are in the middle of the return phase of their championship and claim to qualify for the final phase since they are second in the provisional classification. On this occasion, discover the interview of their coaches Romain Mémain and Frédéric Pedoussaut. They talk about the strengths of this team and their visions for the future.
How did you experience the first part of the season?
Rather positively with 11 wins out of 14 games. The season started well with an internship in Royan aimed at creating unity around the team. Despite an ignition delay against Stade Français, we have found our cruising speed and we hope that will continue. We knew that we had a quality group to do well, the team was able to recover after this defeat and quickly switched to competitive mode. This group is reaching maturity and wants to create a collective adventure.
How do you envision this end of the season?
Sunday’s match against Castres gave us a clearer horizon for the future. We are on the right track to reach our objective, even if we still need to win a game mathematically. This allows us to project ourselves in a more concrete way. The team is on vacation this week to recharge the batteries and then we have two months of hard work to attack the final sprint with the whole group, including the players who were in double license and on whom we rely. Nothing is certain, as our defeat at Aurillac proves, but they gave themselves the right to have a great experience.
What are your goals ?
The objective was to do better than last year (5th). Having a fairly homogeneous group, it was difficult to announce our clear and defined objectives at the start of the season. In addition to obtaining good sporting results, it is also satisfying to see the cohesion and emulation within this group of 55 players. The transition between generations went pretty well.
What are the strengths of this team?
The work, the state of mind, the competitive side. This group is maturing because they have known each other and played together for several seasons. They want to validate all this work undertaken without setting limits. The state of mind instilled by Les ” old reflected on the rookies and the youngest. It feels. It’s a group that likes to spend time together, including off the field.
How would you describe the technical evolution of the team?
First of all, we must underline the excellent work done by the CDF on the technical aspect of the player. On our side, we are in charge of the collective aspect and in particular the implementation of a game project to which the players quickly adhered. They were very receptive and attentive to what we offered them. This is the real evolution.
We want to add that beyond the players, it is the Espoirs group as a whole that is very close. This cohesion is reflected in the broad sense: staff and players.
