Chartrain manager Renaud Gourdon deciphers the major reshuffling of his workforce during this off-season.
Twenty new players have joined you this summer. What benefits do you expect to derive from this major overhaul?
Better availability. It happened to me, last season, to deprogram a training session because only four forwards were there. We had to improve our operation. The players who have joined us are available for training. Many are former hopefuls of professional clubs who are switching to the senior world and they are used to intense activity. When a player goes from two training sessions a week to daily training, he needs time to adapt. We experienced this last season with our multi-active elements. The profile of our recruits will allow us to move to another level of work.
It sometimes takes time for hopefuls to get used to federal games…
Yes, many learned there, at their expense, that the division offered a high level. There will be work. But from our budgetary possibilities, we have developed a policy of youth and enthusiasm. These are boys who have an appetite. They did not come here to settle quietly. This is exactly the state of mind that will allow us to move forward. We would have liked, in certain positions, to bring more experience to the team. But the creation of the National 2 has made a call for air and our project is not yet fully recognized.
What will be the profile of your team this season?
We will seek to produce a total rugby. Our recruits from behind should bring us the speed and explosiveness that we were lacking. Up front, we failed to grow our line-up. We are going to present a fairly homogeneous package in hybrid profiles, with scratchers and players moving around.
Do you feel you have increased its potential?
It’s a bit early to tell. We can talk about it only in a while. But the certainty is that we have more players involved. They will be able to train more regularly together. From there, improvement must come.
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